Yours in Eternity
by Elizabeth Newforest
Summary: So far,my life is crap.I just moved into a town named after Countess Dracula,puked in a cute guys house,fell in love,started a love triangle,and now a group of evil vampires are after my hide.And I'm psychic.Pretty good for a half vampire freak,eh?
1. The Evil Bottle of Ketchup

Stuff: This is placed after Tenth Grade Bleeds, with some minor spoilers. Beware. I don't own The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, though I wish I did. : (

Chapter 1

The worst part about moving was the plane. At least that was what I thought. It was the fact that I would be sitting, surrounded by people while I was faint with hunger. One wrong move and that annoying stewardess would be my next meal. Not that I cared much. I swear, it's probably their job to make sure no one gets any sleep, but for the horror of no one eating the crappy pretzels they seemed determined to sell. Whoever invented pretzels should go rot in hell.

Due to the fact that you couldn't very well bring blood bags onto a plane and start slurping from them randomly, I hadn't eaten (drank?) in the better part of 6 hours. Luckily we were landing in about 2 hours, so I would at least try to doze. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back.

"Would you like anything from the food cart? We have pretzels for 90 cents!"

Oh, good God.

Being a teenager is tough. Hard. Less than amiable. For a human. It's even worse if you're a half vampire, half human hybrid, and when you have 'second sight', like cheesy re-runs of Dead Zone. So when I stepped off the plane with my guardian, Uncle Jared, and my best-friend-turned-foster-sister (the technical term would be drudge, but I hated to think of her like that), Lily, it was only natural that I glare at everything, snap at everyone, and be in a general pissed off mood.

Hey, call it teenaged angst.

It was made worse when Lily bought me Midol and tampons and Uncle Jared asked if we needed to 'talk', and how it was 'perfectly normal, what was going on in my body'. Thanks, Uncle Jared. Mother Nature's been blessing me with monthly gifts since I was twelve. Was I really flat enough to make people think I haven't 'had the painters in'? Personally, I thought a 34 B was a very reasonable size for a girl about to go into eleventh grade. Sweet Jesus. Well, did they honestly expect me to be all sunshine and happiness? We were moving to a place that was barely a dot on the map, had less than 2000 residents and was called Bathory. A far cry from Venice, where we had just moved from. I could appreciate the irony, though. A 'creature of the night', going to live in a town that was named after the Hungarian countess who killed and drank the blood of 650 girls? Yeah, I was all over the irony like butter on a biscuit.

Whatever.

At least Jared had remembered those weird blood pills that were like gel capsules, only red. And filled with blood. Once again, whatever. Working as one of the few male nurses on the planet had its advantages. Like getting blood from the B-Bank for his dearest, darling-est niece. Sitting in a cheap café right outside of an airport shoving pills into my mouth like candy must have looked weird to a couple people, because we got some strange looks. Now, had I been a normal child how cared what complete and utter strangers thought about me, I would slip my capsules into my crappy ham and cheese sandwich while blushing abashedly. Unfortunately, I think I was wired wrong.

"Aiza, people think you're doing drugs." So delightfully tactful, Lily is. I leaned back in the pleather bench, making it groan.

"Oh, sob. Should I care?" I stuck out my tongue.

Jared, with his buzz cut black hair and build like monster truck, could scare anyone, but he was so much of a teddy bear he couldn't even squish an ant hill. So, usually, when he talked, I tried to listen. Usually.

"Aizabel, can you get your stuff together? We need to get going. Bathory's still a 2 hour drive away, and we need to sort through our stuff and choose rooms." Yes, because we just couldn't stay in the much larger, less ironic town of Stokerton. Life seemed to take so much joy in being a bitch. But I digress. Half an hour later, we were in his old pick up truck, powering down an old road towards what was soon to be called 'home'.

Oh, joy.

Let me tell you one thing. Unpacking. Is. Extreme. And. Painful. Torture. So, of course, it didn't help with my generally pissed off mood. By the time we had got the rooms sorted out, the last thing I needed was a cheery neighbor inviting me over for dinner. So, guess what happened. Yeah. Her name was Nelly, who was apparently working in the same hospital as Jared, so she just _had_ to invite us over. She lived 5 doors down in the dark little street we were living in. Lily, of course, was overjoyed. she danced into my room, where I was listening to creepy songs on my iPod, such as Emo Kid, Gay Bar and other such amusing 'tunes', as Jared would call them. So, when I heard that I was supposed to act pleasant to an overly nice nurse, her orphaned, emo nephew who wasn't even her nephew and his womanizing friend, all while eating crappy bloodless food, I first fell into hysterical laughter, thinking it was a joke, then started to silently fume when I found out it was not and I was indeed expected to perform the above acts.

Man, I'm such an ass.

When I finally made my way downstairs, Nelly's eyes widened as she took me in. Really, who could blame her? She went from exchanging pleasantries with a nice Mr. Normal (because gathering blood for a hormonal girl to drink is sooo normal) and a sweet looking girl with wavy blond hair and honey brown eyes, lulled into the sense that we were just another normal, slightly unorthodox family, and then she saw me.

Jeans that were way to baggy, baring some of the V from hipbones. Super-white skin. Sharp cheek bones and a narrow chin. Eyes that seemed to big for the rest of the face in a dark cobalt blue hue. Dark layered hair down to the elbows with a slash of bangs covering half my face. And, the epitome of cool, a black t-shirt with red words stating 'Vampires, beware. I bite back' with white teeth marks underneath. I am most definitely getting this irony thing down.

Nelly, of course, looked like she was about to have a heart attack. I was pretty sure she was thinking, 'I just invited_ that_ into my home? What if she gives my darling boy drugs? She looks the type'. I really am an ass. She covered it up well; I'll give her that, as she came towards me.

"Hello, dear. My name is Nelly." She had to raise her voice slightly, as Lily cracked up at the sight of my shirt. Unfortunately, as I was still pissed off about this whole 'visit the neighbors' thing, so my voice was slightly rude. Ish.

"I'm Aizabel Cray." I threw on a gray cardigan as we trekked out to her house for dinner. Lily came up beside me and linked our arms, still giggling slightly.

"They'll never get the shirt!" Then she started cackling evilly. Really, I love Lily, and would die for her in an instant, but listening to her cackling scares me like it would scare a pig being force fed bacon. It's that terrifying. But who gives a crap? Whatever. As we walked up towards Nelly's house, I caught a shift in the upstairs window. Probably just the emo kid trying to look down Lily's shirt. Nelly opened the door with a flourish and ushered us all in. I looked around, trying not to be too nosy. Hardwood floor hall way leading to a kitchen, stairs next to the door, beige walls and a clean kitchen. Mostly boring. And then Nelly yelled upstairs. Good God that woman has lungs the size of bellows.

"Vlad, Henry! Come down and meet the neighbors!" Two pairs of feet were stomping down the stairs. And then we saw them for the first time. Ohhhhhhh, dramatic. The first one to show up was a blond, well muscled, and I guess you could say good looking with tanned skin and balanced features. The womanizer, definitely. His eyes widened when he saw Lily, and I shot a death glare towards him. I hate players.

"Nelly, you didn't tell me you were inviting anyone over….."A boy dressed in jeans, a black t-shirt with a purple vampire smiley face on it and a black sweater said. This time it was my eyes that widened when I saw him. He looked almost like a vampire, which spiked my interest. His skin was as pale as mine, but his hair was black, darker than mine. It was cut in the 'emo style', with bangs covering one eye, with a few spikes and brushing the base of his neck, which, by the way, had a pretty damn sexy black choker on it. His eyes were dark pewter, and were shaped like stupidly perfect manga eyes that everyone loved with thick lashes and were deep and perfect you could positively swim in them with those stupid sparkles in them and I swear there were like heavenly lights behind his head and…….

Good God, what am I saying?

Whatever, he's hot.

When he saw me looking like a deer in headlights, he frowned slightly and asked:

"Are you okay?" Oh god, his voice. It was soft but hard and kind of like Adam Lamberts but a lot better….AND I DIDN'T CARE! NOPE! NOT AT ALL!!!!

…..ish

"Absolutely and positively fine! Why would I not be?!" I quickly smushed myself against the wall, getting as far away from him as absolutely possible. Hybrids can't like humans. Humans can be eaten. Easily. Especially when they had really long necks that were elegant and had lovely, lovely blood pulsing just beneath the surface because their skin's almost translucent and…….crap. I wasn't helping myself very much. He looked at me strangely, but who wouldn't, as I was squished against a wall looking for all the world like I had dinner plates for eyes, and that I had a iPod held out from me like a shield, protecting me from cute guys with nice smelling blood. Yep. You see that every day.

"My names Jared, this is my foster child Lily, and my niece Aizabel, but she prefers to be called Aiza. Now, what's for supper?" Uncle Jared's voice was panicked, and he didn't really change the subject well. Luckily, Lily is a good distraction. She laughed gaily as she moved forwards, placing her hand on the cute guys shoulder, kissing him on the cheek, and quickly repeating the action on Mr. Player. Well, that got their attention all right.

"Tell me, what are your names? I want to be able say I know at least a couple people before starting school." She smiled sweetly at them, Cute Guy's eyes widening as he brushed his fingers over his cheeks.

"I'm Henry, and this little freak over here is Vlad." Vlad. A fabulous name. Truly. Kind of…Russian. Mr. Player, now known as Henry, tried flirting with Lily, but as Cute Gu-Vlad, glanced at me and didn't look away; Lily tried to catch his attention. But, alas, as I had not changed my position against the wall, he continued to stare. Nelly, bless her bumbling soul, called out that it was, at last, dinner time. Everyone filed into the kitchen except for me and Jared.

"Are you okay, sweetie? When's the last time you ate?" Jared looked worried, and was obviously thinking about me drinking from each and every human in the room.

"Jared, I'm fine, the last time I actually, well, drank from the source was when I was six, and that gave me Lily, so I'm good. But can I leave anyway? Like, please? Just tell them I have the stomach bug or something." I preformed the puppy eyes on him, which once raised my mark from B to A-, but, apparently, my skills were rusty, as he disagreed.

"No, that would be rude. Try to power through." I huffed, and stuffed my ear buds into my ears as I made my way into the kitchen. That was when I decided that the world absolutely hated me. The only free seat was next to Vlad, since Jared had chosen the seat next to Nelly. I cranked the volume on my iPod louder, letting Korn scream through my ears. Very slowly and carefully, like I was about to poke a constipated donkeys butt, I sat in the seat next to Vlad. To not stare at him like I just escaped from the funny farm, I began to focus on the lyrics.

_Wait!_

_I'm coming undone._

_Too late!_

_I'm coming undone._

_I'm starting to _

_Suffoca-_

The iPod was ripped from my ears. I glared indignantly at Jared as he tucked my iPod into his pocket.

"Socialize." He waved his hands in the air to make his point. I sighed slightly. How could he not know that if I interrupted the flirt session going on between Henry and Lily, she'd whip my ass, and if I tried to talk to Vlad, I'd start babbling like an idiot about blood or something, he'd get freaked out and call the asylum, I'd die of thirst or something and the world would burst into flames and wither away and everyone would DIE. Both choices were bad. As Nelly placed hamburger and ketchup on the table I ducked my head and began to stare into space, a slightly annoying habit of mine. I reached out blindly for a hamburger, took the ketchup, and squirted it on. Still staring into space, and humming to myself, kind of like the crazy person that I am, I took a bite just as Vlad yelled.

"Stop! Wrong bottle!" By this time I was already chewing. And then I started to dry heave, with my face turning a lovely, elegant shade of mint green from the taste in my mouth. The ketchup. Tasted like. A positive blood.

Now, for most vamps that would be a good thing, but the thing is, the taste of A positive blood makes me want to puke. Now, I had learned a valuable lesson. Moldy ketchup tastes like A positive blood.

The world is full of discoveries, isn't it?

End Notes: Reviewing makes me update faster!!!!! Tell me how I did for my first chapter, please! (Imaginary cookies to all)


	2. Well, Shit

Stuff: Umm….I don't own him, and my ranking in the Minion Horde does nothing to change that. TT_TT

Vlad's POV (Fangirl squee)

"Vlad, Henry! Come down and meet the neighbors!" The call came at a good time, as Henry was just about to beat me at _Race to Armageddon 2_ for the fifth time that day.

"Man, I just looked out the window, and the girls are _hot_! Although the pale one is probably better for you. You need to date more after the epic fail with Meredith as your girlfriend." Henry yanked me up and began tugging me down the stairs, but not before I gave him a look that screamed _shut up!_ We had decided, after the _incident, _that we would put it behind us and never mention it again. Unfortunately, Henry doesn't have the largest amount of brain cells, and promptly forgot. By the time we stumbled down, Nelly and a guy the size of a mountain were in deep conversation.

"Nelly, you didn't tell me we were inviting anyone over…….." My voice trailed off at the end, as I realized that this would mean I would be playing human until they left. I hated eating cooked flesh. A thump averted my attention, and I looked over to see a girl with skin as pale as mine squishing herself against a wall, holding an iPod like a shield between us. Her cobalt eyes, which were already quite huge, were widened in what looked like panic. A chill crept through me. It was the same look Eddie Poe gave me on Halloween, last year. Had she seen a vampire before and made the connection?

"Are you okay?" I frowned slightly as she cringed away from me.

"Absolutely and positively fine! Why would I not be?!" Her voice was loud, and skittered. The large man quickly intervened.

"My names Jared, this is my foster child Lily, and my niece Aizabel, but she prefers to be called Aiza. Now, what's for supper?" The tone of his voice made it clear that he was trying to change the subject. It didn't work. But what happened next did. The blond haired girl in the white sundress shimmied over to me, laughing lightly. What supernatural powers to pretty girls have to completely divert your attention?

Oh, yeah. They're pretty.

She placed her hand on my shoulder and placed a kiss on my cheek, before spinning around and repeating the action on Henry.

My concentration? Shattered.

"Tell me, what are your names? I want to be able say I know at least a couple people before starting school." This, of course, got Henry's attention. He automatically started to flirt with her, laying it on thick. Arm touches, brushing the hair out of the face, coy remarks. Yeah, they were flirting big time. As Henry would attempt homicide, should I decide to interrupt the flirt session, I returned my attention to Aiza, who, by the way, was still squished against the wall, using the iPod like a shield against me. I tried to push into her mind, to see exactly why she was so afraid…..

And then Lily was babbling about school supplies in my ears and tugging on my arm. I resisted the urge to smirk as I realized why Lily was being so nice. She was trying to distract us from Aiza. Fat chance, as she was still looking we just chucked a brick at her. So, of course, Nelly decides to announce its dinner time. I sighed and entered our kitchen, choosing a seat in the corner. Lily attempted to sit beside me, probably to distract me, but Henry, being absolutely besotted by this point, took her arm and led her away to the seat next to his. For someone who was trying to play matchmaker, he seemed determined to keep girls away from me.

Then again, why should I care?

I heard murmured conversation from the hall, their pitching sounding like Jared and Aiza's. I smirked at the name. Jared and Nelly sat down next to each other, causing me to raise my eyebrows. Until realization set in. The only empty seat was next to mine.

Fabulous.

Aiza came in then, I started choking with laughter at her shirt, but she didn't seem to realize this, as she was glaring at the chair like she was thinking of various ways to torture it. Then with a big huff, she shoved her ear buds into her ears, blasted the music, and sat down. I could even make out the lyrics. She seemed to be focused intensely on something no one else could see, so I attempted to enter her mind again. Which was nothing but annoyed as Jared confiscated the iPod. She then began to fix her hamburger, and a purple-blue vein appeared in her neck. Suffice to say, the thirst diverted my attention.

So, by the time I realized she had poured blood all over her hamburger, she was already taking a bite. Oh shit.

"Stop! Wrong Bottle!" She chewed and swallowed, her eyes getting wider than I would of thought possible. I glanced around the table. Henry's jaw was probably permanently dislocated, and Nelly looked like she was having an aneurysm. I turned back to Aiza, panicked. A green ting stained her face, and she sat without moving for 5 seconds. The longest 5 seconds in my life. And then all hell broke loose.

She started hacking like she was coughing a lung out, while clutching her throat and chest. An arm flew out and smacked my face as she reached across the table to Lily's cup, already filled with orange juice. She then chugged it, leaning back. Aiza sat back, her face still green. Lily broke the silence.

"Aiza? Are you okay?" Her tone was even, careful. Aiza opened her mouth to reply….before clapping her hands over her mouth and dry heaving. Nelly grasped my elbow.

"Why don't you show her to the bathroom?" I nodded, before grasping Aiza's wrist, and tugging lightly. Jared leaned over, concern written all over his face.

"Aiza, dear, are you alright? Maybe you should go home." She groaned and mumbled something suspiciously like 'move me and I'll puke all over everything, the house will burst into flames, the Armageddon will start and everyone will DIE. And I'll never get a date again.'

Quite the optimistic.

I slipped my arm around her waist, and she jerked back, throwing her head back in an attempt to get away. Now normally I would be insulted, but seeing as that action had caused her to bear her neck to me, and I could see veins pulsing beneath her skin. Oh, crap.

My mouth went dry, and my head started to spin, the world focusing on the vein in her neck.

"Vlad, get her to the washroom, now!" Nelly's voice snapped me out of the blood induced trance I was in and I nodded, again. I began tugging her down the hallway, and she clapped her hands over her mouth again. She finally got her feet moving, and I kicked the door open. She scrambled away from me, leaned over the toilet…

And started to puke. I turned away, pretty sure she didn't want me to see this. A flush. I turned again, and she was rinsing her mouth out in the sink. My mind latched onto the vein in her neck, and started to wander.

"Ummm…" I snapped into attention. "Yes?" Aiza held up a bottle of Listerine mouthwash.

"Mind if I use?" I shook my head. After the 'rinse then spit' routine, she turned to me.

"Uh, I'm really, _really_ sorry. Like, extremely so. God, I hope your aunt doesn't think this is her fault." Aiza looked guilty, and she started to scratch the back of her neck, embarrassed.

_Believe me, it's my fault for not noticing you about to put freaking _blood_ on your hamburger._ My train of thought stopped abruptly as the scent of blood-warm, delicious blood-filled the room. Aiza pulled her hand back, and she had the smallest amount of blood on her fingernails.

"Oh, oops." She turned around to get a Band-Aid from the cupboard, and there was the smallest cut possible on the nape of her neck, because she scratched too hard. Oh, god. My throat burned, my fangs pushed almost violently out of my gums, slicing my tongue. As I stared at the tear of tissue, a drop of blood pulsed out. My mind went blank.

My hand shot out, wrapping around her waist and tugged her violently against my chest. My other hand tilted her head back, exposing her neck even more. And then I pressed my lips to her cut, kind of like a demonic kiss from hell. I was about to bite when…

"Um, Vlad?" Her voice shocked me, causing me to freeze, and then I caught our reflection in the mirror. Her face was uneasy, and slightly wary. And mine just looked hungry. And then I realized what it looked like. It looked like….._foreplay._

How was I supposed to explain this?

Oh, shit.

End notes: Kinda short chapter, but I like it. Oh, mucho thanks to everyone who reviewed. I be wuvving ya. Once again, I love reviews, they make me happy. Me happy = faster updates = (only if you like the story)YOU HAPPY!!! See, designed with happiness in mind.


	3. Mr TopHatGuy

Stuff: Okay, so I had a couple problems with editing this story, since technology hates me and wants me to die. Well, if you got random e-mails from , that explains why! Yay me.

Chapter 3

Well. Now this was an interesting position. Vlad seemed to be kissing me for no apparent reason, while I was still holding on to the box of Band-Aids. Now, normally, I'd be all up for a steamy make out session, but there were a couple problems.

1: I meet Vlad 45 minutes ago.

2: I don't know much about it, but this seemed to be the position that escalates into kinky sex. I don't want to be a 20 year old spinster with 40 cats and a 3 year old child who all drink milk out of china saucers while I sing and play horribly off-tune Christmas carols on a banjo because I lost what was left of my sanity when I went through childbirth.

3: The scent of my own blood's driving me crazy, and I don't want to drain the cute, sex-obsessed emo kid currently attached to me.

4: A blond guy wearing a purple top hat just burst into this overcrowded washroom, took one look at the situation and slammed Vlad against the wall with much more force than necessarily needed.

I don't like this Mr. I'm-So-Cool-I-Have-A-Purple-Top-Hat-So-I-Can-Slam-Poor-Hot-Cute-Emo-Kids-Into-Walls.

"Vladimir, what in the world was that?" Top Hat Man's voice's dark and dangerous.

"Oh, God, Otis, it's not that! God, I wasn't going to-" Otis, as his name seems to be, glares at Vlad and then glances at me.

"Did he hurt you?" the tone was dark and dangerous, it was as clear as the fact that my dad screwed my mom that if I said yes, dear little emo kid's shit would hit the fan.

"Um, eeer, no! He was _hugging _me!" Otis looked at me like I was just snorting things not made for human consumption. Then he asked a question I liked better locked in his mind.

"Why?" It was clearly a challenge to prove it to him, and I gladly obliged.

"Ahh, ummmm, I…errr, he...." Problem is, I had no clue what to say. At all. Top Hat Guy raised his eyebrows at me. As I scrambled for a lie, Vlad seemed to accept his fate as mincemeat. And then inspiration struck.

"We were best friends in kindergarten!" Otis and Vlad just looked at me in that, 'it's gonna be okay once we get you to the asylum' way I get so often. "We used to live in Bathory a long time ago, before we moved!" In reality, I had dual citizenship between the U.S.A. and Canada, but I grew up in Canada (Newmarket, Ontario, to be exact), moving to Venice when I was 15 because of….the _problem_. But they didn't need to know that, did they? Brilliant logic. Truly.

Ish.

"So I went to kindergarten with him, and we were really good friends, and then we realized that after I finished puking and it was all sunshine and flowers! No emo kids trying to get any in this house, no way! No Sir! At all!" This was one of those times when my mind was screaming at me to _shut the hell up_, but my mouth decides to disconnect from my brain and keep talking. "Right, Vladicus?"

Oh, god.

I called him Vladicus.

Kill me now.

Vlad was just staring at me, looking mildly horrified and traumatic, while Otis slowly repeated:

"…Vladicus?" Oh, god, _shutupshutupshutup_. Why did I say that?

"Right, it was a nickname I gave him in kindergarten! Remember, Vlad?" I then began attempting to beam my thoughts into Vlad's head._ Please go along with it, oh, my, god, please. I feel like an idiot but I don't want you to get in trouble, so please go along with it, pretty, pretty, pretty PLEASE! Some kill me now, please. Or let me melt into the floor. Just go along with it!_

I don't think I have much telepathic talent.

"Uhh, yeah. I remember. It's fabulous to see you again, Aiza." Vlad gave me a semi-pained smile. I grinned, looking slightly psychotic. I do have telepathic greatness! Score! I hugged him, ignoring the fact that he turned his head away, probably to keep the crazy waves radiating from me from affecting him.

Whatever.

Screw him.

We all filed back towards the kitchen, but I held Vlad back (not Vladicus, damnit!) because I felt the need to explain my insanity.

"Right-o, so, I'm not going to ask what happened back there, because I acted pretty freaky before, and you didn't ask me anything. Therefore, because you respected my privacy, I shall respect yours, with the added bonus of you not turning into mincemeat at Top Hat Guy's hand." His mouth twitched at this, but he still leaned away. "I'm not crazy!" I snapped, putting my hands on my hips and leaning forward.

His eyes widened and he stepped back, suddenly clenching his jaw. Sweet Jesus, to I make him mad now?

"I know you're not. I am." Well, thanks for that, Mr. Clear-as-Day, I _won't_ be pondering over _that_ statement late at night. Gawd, this was starting to turn put like that stupid shit that Twilight is. I breathed in, ready to make him clear things up, when he put his hand on the small of my back and began to propel me forwards. That made me lose my train of thought.

Did I mention he's really hot?

And that he smelled nice? All cut grass and air and manly boyishness. And blood. He had quite nice smelling blood. Hence my dazedness. My fangs sliced into my tongue, and I moved forward, sighing relief as Lily was now sitting next to my chair. Her eyes were wide and concerned.

"We can go, if you need to." There was an undertone that screamed silently._ To drink blood bags and make sure you don't kill anyone because your thirst has been growing and I don't want anyone to die because you didn't drink enough._

I shook my head and sat down. "I'm pretty sure that the ketchup has gone bad." I grinned sheepishly. This was when I noticed a couple things:

1: Otis was glaring at Jared sitting next to Nelly on the other side of her with something like possessiveness and jealousy, with Jared being oblivious. That man had about as much romantic desire as a dead fish.

2: Vlad is undeniably adorable, although a bit strange. And apparently crazy.

3: Because Lily's sitting next to me, now Vlad's sitting across from me, and I had henceforth had to concentrate very hard to manage not to stare at him like I just escaped the nutter-butters house for the rest of the meal. Near impossible feat.

Goddamnit.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

10:30 at night, staring at the single hair Vlad left on my shirt. Now the question is, to have a vision, or not to have a vision? I wasn't exactly all gung-ho, rip-off-my-shirt-and-wave-it-around exited to have a vision of the present.

At least in past or future visions, after the fuzzed up feeling of my mind disconnecting from my body, I seem to reform, and see the future for who-knows-how-long-until-my-mind-goes-back-to-my-body, with only 5, maybe 6 seconds passing in the present. But for the present, it kinda feels like my body's going through a jacked up wood chipper, and the seconds seem to drag by as I get the info I want. Plus, however long I spend in the other place-mind wise, at least-my body stays still and my face stays blank and creepy, hence the fact I'm in my room debating to spy on Nelly and see if Vlad got in trouble.

God, I feel stalker-ish.

Focusing on the instructions Joseph gave me-despite that he was part of the _problem_(damn vampires)-I focused on the tips of my fingers, feeling them begin to fill with energy. I then brushed my fingers over the hair.

My stomach jerked, and, distantly, I felt my muscles lock in place. Then I saw black. My vision began to clear, and I realized I was in the kitchen 5 doors down, my 'mind-body', as I had dubbed it, feeling like, not only had a bus ran over me, pins and needles were being chucked at me, and iron bands were being tightened around my skull, chest, middle, hips and knees.

Not fun.

But I focused on what was being said in front of me.

"Vlad, did you-" Otis started hesitantly.

"No, I did not, okay?!" Vlad was sitting at the table. "Vlad! Please don't use that tone with Otis!" Nelly sounded scandalized. Which was when I noticed that some other guy was there. He was wearing furs, had longish hair, and was pretty good looking.

"Malhyenki Dyavol, I understand it must be hard to deal with everything-" He started, when he was violently cut off.

"Shut up! How would you know what I feel, what I'm going through?! Vikas, you weren't even there, you shouldn't even be _part_ of this conversation. And one other thing. None of _you_ are the fricken _Pravus _!" Vlad stood up, and began to walk away, looking like a moody teenaged girl on her period. Then he walked through me.

Which was MEGA FREAKING PAINFUL!

So, of course, my concentration shattered, and I was jerked back into my real body, and I fell back onto my bed.

Very successful stalking session. I found out many things about Vlad I otherwise wouldn't know.

1: He has a very bad temper.

2: He's moodier than a middle aged pregnant woman who can't find the pickles.

3: He's the Pravus. Very useful to know.

Whatever that is.

End Notes: So, all the reviews have been absolutely mind blowing. Every time I see that I have one I get a brain orgasm or something equally disturbing. Much wuv to you all. w. Once again, pwease review and tell me your thoughts, predictions, about your day, ect. Anything works.


	4. Beat that, Wonder Woman

Stuff: I think I love you all. Really. The reviews have been amazing. They make survival seem possible. *crazy glint in eye* Is anyone else hungry? Mmm, ham.

Chapter 4

"Lily, I'm not wearing this."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not. I don't need to dress up like a floozy to go to a diner called Eat."

"Hot guys might be there."

Hmm, she had me there. After the crash and burn at Vlad's house 2 days ago, I hadn't really done much, except for dance around the house to loud music when awkwardness caught up to me, gone outside twice with Lily to go shopping at Stop and Shop for school supplies, and had a couple conversations with Vlad and Henry, who seemed to be permanently hanging out at Vlad's house. Both of them were awkward, as I went into the mode where my brain tells me to shut up and I keep talking, and Vlad seemed to keep jaw permanently clenched, and if I moved within 2 feet of him he looked like a crack addict. You know that look? Yeah, that one. So I decided to find another boy to stalk. Easier said than done.

Which is why Lily decided that we needed to check out the nightlife of Bathory (it's a friggen diner, and it's the closest thing to a dace club. So sad) on our last day of freedom before school starts.

This still doesn't explain the fact that I'm wearing an outfit from a horndog's heaven.

1: The skinny jeans looked like I had to freaking paint them on, and they were apparently 'super-low-rise', which apparently made the boys crawl towards you like flies to a rotten papaya.

2: The shirt was a dark blue silky thing with old fashion, 1800s puff sleeves with bow-y thingies on the hem of'em, which revealed 7 miles of cleavage and 1 inch of midriff.

3: I was wearing a push up bra.

Yeah.

I know.

"So, let's go!" Lily is sometimes way to nauseatingly happy. As she forcefully shoved my feet into my shoes, she attempted to attack me with an eyeliner pencil. I dodged semi-gracefully.

"Lily, I'm not wearing that."

"Yes, you are."

"Not, I'm not. I don't need my eyes gouged out with kohl to eat at a diner."

"Vlad might be there."

Damnit.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I hate my life. It sucks. So me and Lily go to the diner (my eyes still watering from the inhumane torture they had just been through) fully expecting to just eat crap food, uncaring of all the calories and boys and crap, and then Vlad and Henry are there. With Henry's girlfriend.

Asshole.

Lily covered up her hurt well; I'll admit that, she's trying her best to be friends with Melissa, but she's definitely pissed. And she worked so hard to look good for him. I really don't think the penile thinkers appreciate how much hard work it is for us vagina-bearing humans (or half-humans, anyway) to look as good as we do.

Sometimes I think the women of this world should unite and round up all the men to wax their legs and genitals, shave their armpits, pluck their eyebrows and put makeup on them. Then maybe they'd appreciate the next sexy chick they see a little more.

We're underappreciated.

Whatever.

So here's the problem.

1: Lily is starting to like Melissa and become her friend, which makes the whole Henry situation worse, and she's glaring like Satan himself at Henry. And Henry is looking ready to piss his pants. Hell hath no fury like a pissed off woman.

2: Vlad and I have to sit next to each other because the damn table is too small, and he's getting the crack-addict look again. And I'm pretty sure I'm talking about the benefits of eating cheese. He, on the other hand, looks ready to launch himself through the window to escape the painful fate of listening to a crazy person. I also kind of want to suck his blood. Damn vampire genes. I should have drunk more before coming.

3: I just saw a really cute guy, and now I'm staring at a very prominent vein in his neck and thinking about how delightful it would be to drink from the source.

Huzzah. Let's throw a party.

He's really cute. Pale skin, dark, wavy, longish kinda-pouffy hair. He's wearing skinny jeans, skate shoes, a pink and black stripped shirt with a dressy black vest overtop, and a Rastafarian green beanie. He has a shoulder bag with different pins all over them at his feet. He's drinking a coffee (so late at night? Weirdo.) while eating a tart and reading a book. _Wuthering Heights_. He might be smartish, too!

And his hands are really gracefulish. All long, thin, fingers and black nail polish. Mmmm.

And I'm staring. A lot. Like, sheltered-child-who-lived-in-a-sterile-environment-it's-entire-life-in-Las-Vegas-by-accident staring. Hot Guy, as I have furthermore dubbed him, looked up and caught me staring like a loony. He has really green eyes. Like, magic-leprechaun's-emeralds green. He nods slightly and lifts two fingers in greeting. When I don't look away, he began to look back to his book and back to me multiple times, before getting a majorly creeped out, twitching-eyebrowed look on his face.

He quickly left a 20 dollar bill on the table, before gathering up his things and leaving the diner quickly.

I sigh and looked to Vlad, who was looking slightly rabid now.

"Are you okay?" I poked his shoulder, ignoring the trill that went up my arm when I felt his biceps.

He scooted away from me, fell off his chair and smacked his head against the wall.

"Fine!" I must have looked doubtful, because he gave a pained smile. "Really." He stood up suddenly and announced that he was leaving to go home. Henry, hearing that, stood up and decided that he and Melissa were leaving to go, too.

"Bye, Lily! See you at school!" Melissa's voice is awfully sweet. Like sucrose. And Kool-Aid. She was meanish to Vlad, though, like he had recently decapitated all her teddy bears in front of her.

After I ate my brownie, I noticed something.

I must have superpowers.

I not only made people I already know flee the building, I made a cute stranger I don't even know flee the building.

All without lifting a finger.

Beat that, Wonder Woman.

End Notes: Kinda shortish chapter, but life is deciding to bite my butt at the moment. The next one will be longer. Like always, reviews would make life more fun at the moment. Please hear my cry and press the little button beneath this. Oh, and predictions would be lovely. Like, a couple examples: Will Hot Guy play a big part? Will Aiza manage to capture Vlad's heart? What the hell will Henry do? What will Lily do? What will the first day at school be like?


	5. I'm Queen Bitch

Stuff: Yay for reviews! They make me so happyyy! *on a caffeine buzz*

Chapter 5

"Welcome to the abattoir." Vlad made a sweeping motion with his arm to include the school. After discovering my latent superpowers last night, I made the resolution to hold on dearly to the shreds of my sanity when I was around Vlad or cute penile thinkers. Not so easy to do. Hence the reason I cracked up and laughed like a Zoner on a pot buzz, with Lily just looking confused.

"What's an abattoir?" She only addressed Vlad, pretending that Henry, giving puppy-dog eyes to her on the other side of Vlad, was merely a cockroach that needed squishing. She was wearing a pink sundress with a pink cardigan today, and while I thought I was winning in the 'I'm not wearing this' argument this morning, I still found myself shoved into something along the lines of 'vampire's bitch'.

1: I was wearing a black t-shirt that was to tight and low cut in a v-neck to be legal. With a freaking push up bra that felt like Hilter's sadistic hands were trying to shove my boobs up my nose and into my brains.

…Bad mental image.

2: A black and red emo skirt with too many buckles and too much lace had been forcefully shoved onto my hips, and were itching my thighs like crazy. Paired up with black and grey knee socks and black Converse with Jack Skellington's face all over them and you had one vampire's sex drudge. And I'm a freaking vampire myself.

3: I'm wearing eyeliner, mascara, eyeshadow and lipgloss. All forced onto me before I had my daily dose of caffeine.

Will the tragedies never end?

As Vlad's reply- "It's a slaughterhouse in which animals are lined up before being killed and shipped of to places to make lunchmeats."- creeped Lily out, she took my hand and begun to lead me to the lockers. Where we bumped into Melissa, a blond chick and some girl with wavy brown hair who looked like her heart had got ripped out and eaten by rabid Chihuahuas.

Fun stuff.

After the squealfest was over (why the hell do us girls feel the need to squeal like puppies that need to urinate every time we greet our friends?) I found out that Chihuahua Girl's name was Meredith, and that she just went through a very painful breakup that she couldn't talk about at the moment. Meredith ran into the washrooms with her eyes beginning to tear up. So that's why she was lacking the barbaric war paint of the modern Amazonian women who stalk the halls of the high school jungle.

How interesting.

I wonder who broke up with whom?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Oh, the lunchroom dilemma. How I would take pleasure in destroying thou. Or something. I recently left health class (really, how hard is it to say gonads? Repeat after me. GO-NADS. Just think of it as cheering for a wicket ball team. Go Nads! Shut up, brain) and now I was facing the terrible, first day of school, which-table-to-sit-at predicament.

Whoopee.

I couldn't sit with Melissa & Co., because I had just met all of them today, and I got the feeling that they thought I was crazy. Sanity's just overrated. I couldn't see where the girl who invited me to The Crypt was-October, that's her name. And I had no idea where Vlad sat. So I stood at the door, looking generally like an idiot. The image was only enhanced by the brown bag I held to my chest.

Yes, I brown bag it. How the hell else am I supposed to imbibe in red goodness? And plus they never sell Twinkies in cafeterias, and those are half the reason I bother to survive. The other half is for instant scalloped potatoes.

"Hey, Aiza." Vlad's voice was right next to me.

"Oh em gee! Are you trying to make my brain explode?" I turned and smacked his head with my lunchbag.

Oh, god. Why must my superpowers take over every time I try to talk to him? I'm pretty sure the concern for my well being from the Fates has been flushed down the cosmic toilet. By Zeus, probably.

Yeah.

Vlad, surprisingly, seemed to be getting used to my obvious insanity and merely began leading me to the table he and Henry usually sat at, joined by Melissa. Who, by the way, still seems to dislike Vlad. Of course, the smell of manly boyishness mixed with blood that radiated from Vlad momentarily stunned me, causing me to trip and fall into the table.

I'm graceful on the inside.

I sat down, and began to eat my delightful ham-cheese-and-blood-capsules sandwich and Twinkies, letting the red ambrosia coat my mouth and tongue. Yummy.

Lily decided to enter right about then, of course surrounded by the Populars who seemed to be attempting to get her to sit with them. She had always been the popular person. But, of course, as soon as she saw me, she broke away from them and began to head towards what I assumed to be the unpopular, uncharted area of the cafeteria where Vlad, Henry, Melissa and I were sitting, close to the trekkies and goth types, looking all blinky and expectant. When Lily sat down next to me and began yammering about her first couple of classes, the Populars couldn't have looked more shocked and horrified if Lily had just brutally murdered Rudolph the Reindeer right in front of them.

Down with the red nose, is what I say.

Lily, of course, attempted to fix up my makeup, which equaled pain and torture. She got me into a head lock by threatening my Twinkie, and while she was brutally attacking my eyes with the demonic device called 'kohl'-with me whimpering pathetically, clutching at my Twinkie as if it would protect me-a horrible thing happened.

Hot Café Guy entered the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit.

Party streamers.

"Lily! The Hot Café Guy is here! Run for your lives! Run!" Lily did a funny turn, swiveling her head around frantically.

"Where? Omigawd, where? It's the end of the world!" Her eyes were wide, holding her eyeliner pen out like a sword, as I was doing likewise with my Twinkie.

"Right over there!" Her eyes locked onto him, looking like a startled deer. "I have to hide!" Lily did a little seizure thing, before ripping off her sweater, throwing it over my head.

Brilliant, Lily. Thanks.

"Ack!" I started waving my arms around as Lily began attempting to force me under the table. I'm pretty sure my Twinkie was either on the table or thrown across a wall.

What a waste of Twinkie.

Suddenly, her hands were gone, and of course I overbalanced and tipped backwards.

Into something.

Something that was warm, felt like abs and cotton covered skin, and smelt like the manly boyish smell of cucumber and sun. And blood. My fangs pushed violently out of my gums and my throat went parched, before my full predicament caught up with me.

Oh, god.

Oh, goddy, god.

Please let be me high. Or hallucinating.

Or dead. That would be good, too.

Slowly, I leaned my head back, looking up to what had saved me from falling to the cafeteria floor.

Hot Café Guy stared down at me.

I was leaning against Hot Café Guy's (very nicely toned) abdomen.

That's it. I'm killing myself when we get home.

"Hello. My name is Edward Salvador. I didn't get your name the other night." He smiled slightly, and pushed my shoulders forward to lean my body against the table, as I have seemed to have gone into rigor mortis.

Oh, god, he recognized me.

My face flared red in the cheekbones, and my mouth opened, but nothing came out except for "Nnngh."

Sweet Jesus.

"May I sit down?"

"Nnheynaha."

"Pardon?"

"Ahh…s-sure."

He sat down next to me, before pulling out a brown bag from his bag and eating a sandwich.

He brown bags it too.

Let the dorks unite.

"Everyone's staring at us." Thank you, Lily, Captain Obvious, I salute you.

"That's because we're all new here, and we're sitting in the unpopular part of the cafeteria. Don't worry. They'll lose interest in a couple weeks and find something new and exiting to stare at like idiots in a couple weeks. That reminds me, what's your name?" Hot Café Guy, now called Edward, turned towards me, his deep green eyes reminding me of a CAT scan. You know, sees everything, even inside you, like you gallbladder? I wonder what a gallbladder does.

Back on track.

"Err…Aizabel Cray. But people call me Aiza." I smiled, trying to keep from looking psychotic. "You sound like you know a lot about the lunchroom dilemma." He raised an eyebrow.

"Err, you know, the where can you sit on the first day of school when you don't know anybody type thing." I smiled again, this time trying to cover my fangs, who decided to make an appearance with all the lovely smelling blood surrounding me. He smiled in a bordering-on-threatening way.

"I move around a lot. My dads in the army." If it wasn't for the fact that he was in high school, I would think he was one of Joseph's underlings. He had the same just-holding-myself-back-from-destroying-things type vibey megijiger that was so popular among criminally insane terrorist vampires. My ponderment on this was abruptly ruined when I saw where my Twinkie had wandered to.

It was splattered across Vlad's chest.

Brilliant.

"Oh, my God! I'm sooooooo sorry! Good Lord, the disasters just keep coming today, don't they?!" Everyone looked at me cross-eyed when I made this comment, but I took no notice, as I was already stumbling over to Vlad with a couple napkin. He looked mildly peeved, but when I walked next to him and practically sat on his knees to wipe away the **monoglycerides** and **diglycerides that were currently smeared across his chest-my head practically exploded when I touched the napkins to his chest-, he just got the crack addict look again and began holding his breath.**

** Oh, my god, do I smell bad? Is that why he gets the weird look on his face? I must start wearing perfume.**

** That was about when Chihuahua Girl stood up, took one look at us, and ran into the washroom.**

** "Shit." I looked up at Vlad, this being the first time I've ever hear him swear. The first time is the weirdest, because you always seem to think that the person is mature and above swear words, and then they start trash talking like a gangsta and BAM! that view of them is over. **

** Of course, I drop the napkins; grab all my shit and start to run after her. The washrooms in Bathory High School are surprisingly sanitary. **

** Meredith is in the corner, trying to scrub the tears away with a couple napkins. I move towards her and she looks up.**

** "Oh. Oh, my god, Aiza, what are you doing here?" She tried to cover up the tear tracks.**

** "Err…I'm sorry. I don't know exactly what I did, but I'm really sorry if this is my fault." I slid down the wall to sit next to her.**

** "Oh. Well, until a couple weeks ago, Vlad was my boyfriend, and what we had was so good. I even, you know, in my diary, tried out the name Meredith Tod. It had a ring to it." I nodded, even though I was slightly creeped out. I thought I was psychotic and stalkerish? Besides, Aizabel Tod sounds so much better. Oh, god, I'm doing it too. "And then Vlad broke up with me. He told me he never loved me." Ouch. "And the worst part is, I knew he was lying, because of the look that he had in his eyes. Everytime I saw him, it was there. And now that you're here, the look is gone." Oh, my, God. I tired to ignore my fluttering heartbeat. "And the worst part is that I still love him. A lot."**

** Sweet Jesus, I'm being the Queen Bitch who breaks people hearts and steals their men without even trying. I feel slightly terrible. On the bright side, I learned a couple new stalker facts about Vlad. (I know I was supposed to find a new person to stalk, so shut up.)**

** 1: If you learn how, reading his eyes will tell you everything.**

** 2: He has a brilliant last name.**

** 3: He's a complete heartless bastard when it comes to breaking up.**

** "Um, Aiza?" I snap to attention. I can't let Chihuahua Girl know that I'm completely crushed over her crush.**

** "Do you think, you know, that you can leave Vlad alone? I really want to see if we can try again." She's asking me to renounce my claim as Queen Bitch to let her re-seduce Vlad again. Crap.**

** "Sure. I mean, you saw him first." I hate doing good.**

**%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%**

** So I'm walking home with Vlad. Conversing with him. Crapola. I know I promised Meredith free hunting, and I'll let her. I'll stop talking to Vlad.**

** I will.**

** I promised.**

** Sometime staring tomorrow.**

** End Notes: Really long chapter that I worked hard on. And the best way to get rid of hand cramps are…REVIEWS! :D Oh, ya, here's a link to a picture Edward Salvador. Only he should be smiling, but whateva.**

** .com/image/boy%20dark%20hair%20green%?o=1**


	6. Thickheaded Males

Stuff: Just a quick chapter I'm doing for fun. I found out the link doesn't work, sorry to those who tried.

Chapter 6

Vlad's POV

_Her eyes got wide. "Oh, my god! I'm sooooo sorry! The tragedies just keep coming today, don't they?" All of us looked at her strangely when she said this. She stumbled towards me holding out a couple napkins. The scent of her blood was almost too much. Her blood that was like liquid fire, as different from Snow's blood as an animals to a humans. The blood that I had been craving. The blood I didn't want to take. I held my breath as she began to wipe away the Twinkie she had unknowingly thrown at me. I tried to stay out of her mind, because it shocked me every time I tried. While most thought in all words, she thought in pictures and colours and movies and music with the occasional sentence thrown in. It made it hard to concentrate. It made it hard to ignore. I looked over her head and made eye contact with Meredith. Her eyes were so pained. Quickly, she headed to the washroom. Aiza caught on, and picked up her bag and her lunch before running after her, guilt on her face._

I closed my eyes as a stab of pain went through my chest. Meredith. It seemed I couldn't get over what I had done to her. I always tried to keep her from my mind, but now that school had come around again, she kept popping into my brain at the worst moments. Like when I'm walking home from school and Henry's trying to talk to me.

"Hmm? What did you say?" I asked, turning my head towards him.

"I SAID, can you sneak into Lily's mind? Just for a second?" Hmm, it seemed the promise he made last year was long forgotten. I glared at him.

"No." I was not in the best mood.

"Wha-why?" I just looked at him.

"Oh. Oh, yeah! Sorry, man, I forgot for a second." He chuckled for a moment as we let ourselves in. Aiza and Lily had stayed a little longer at school, talking with Edward. I grit my teeth, trying to ignore the fact that my fangs grew in anger. There was something…off about him, even though I couldn't put my finger on it. I didn't have time to ponder, though, as when we walked into the kitchen and saw Otis sucking face with Nelly.

"Whoa! Whoa, get a _room_!" The words burst from me before I could stop them. I smiled, though, at the fact that my family was finally starting to look more like…a family. They pulled apart, a light blush colouring Nelly's cheeks. Even that blush reminded me of Meredith, and I bit back a groan. I wasn't going to get her out of my head for a while now, was I?

"Sorry, dear." Nelly sounded flustered, and I resisted the urge to laugh as I took out my homework.

"Where's Vikas?" I began to work on my math homework, annoyed that it was the first day and already Mrs. Kwon was saddling us with an hours work.

"Out hunting." I jerked my head up and glared at Otis, my expression darkening.

"What?" I didn't like the way my voice sounded, dark and threatening. Mild fear flashed through Otis's eyes as he replied.

"He's hunting in Stokerton, Vladimir. We promised we wouldn't hunt in Bathory, and that's a promise we are going to keep." I nodded, guilt roiling in my stomach. The way I reacted, the way he looked at me…it made me feel more like the tyrannical ruler I was supposed to be. Even though Stokerton felt to close to home, I couldn't be so…suspicious of Vikas and Otis. I trust them.

"Sorry." My voice was quiet. Otis put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. I smiled back hesitantly. _It will be alright, Vladimir. You don't have to be anything you don't want to be._ His voice was quiet in my mind. It was funny; he always seemed to know when I was feeling worried about the prophecy. I nodded and looked down again, focusing on my math and the sound of Henry rummaging in the refrigerator. A blood bag was placed on my math work.

"You looked pretty thirsty at lunch, even after your food, so I thought you might need this." He didn't mention the fact that it was when Aiza practically sat on my lap, and neither did I. Otis and Vikas still thought that I had bitten her on the day of the lunch disaster, and that I had another drudge running around, and I didn't want to bring her up again, despite the fact that she was stuck in my mind about as much as Meredith. I picked up the blood bag-so stale, so tasteless in comparison to Snow's and Aiza's- and bit into it. It splashed over my tongue and down my throat, and I resisted the urge to grimace. It kept me fed, and made sure that I didn't need to see Snow as often. The visits would probably increase, though, if I was going to see Aiza everyday. I winced and pushed that thought from my mind.

Henry sat down too, and began to start on homework. Nelly began to fiddle in the kitchen, starting on supper. Vikas walked in right about then, his face grave.

"Vikas! I thought you'd be out longer. You're just in time for supper!" Nelly's voice rang out from where she was taking a pot from a cupboard. He nodded slightly as he sat down across from me.

"A body was found today." He put the Daily newspaper on the table. 'BODY FOUND DRAINED OF BLOOD NEAR CREEK', the headlines screamed at me. I scanned quickly over the article. Female, 28, dead for five days, killed around 11:30.

"Do you think it could be D'Ablo?" I asked.

"Perhaps, Malyenki Dyavol." That was when I realized that everyone but Henry-clueless as always-was staring at me. Things snapped into place. I had visited Snow that night. My eyes widened as realization sunk in.

"You don't think it was _me_?!" My tone was incredulous, and Vikas, Otis and Nelly avoided my eyes guiltily. Henry, his attention caught, looked up, his eyes flashing between the paper on the table and my face.

"It's only natural, Malyenki Dya-" I let out a harsh burst of laughter.

'You have got be kidding me!" People avoided my gaze again. "Just because _you_ people have no trouble slaughtering people like animals for food" Vikas looked up, startled, as hurt raced through his eyes-"doesn't mean I have no problem with it! I would _never_ murder people for their _blood_." The silence was so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. There were unsaid words lingering in the air. _But that doesn't mean you won't enslave the people you seem so determined to save._ I grit my teeth again as my fangs pushed out violently.

"I believe you." Henry's voice was quiet. "I know couldn't." I looked over to him, gratefulness coursing through my body. The room was silent again, so the knocking on the door was easy to hear. Nelly got up quickly and went to answer it.

"Hey, ." Aiza's voice came from the front hall. I clenched my jaw. Perfect. Now they could look at me accusingly, thinking I bit Aiza. "Can I hide here for a bit?" Nelly leaded her into the kitchen, sitting her down next to Henry.

"Why in the world would you need to hide here?" Nelly's voice was curious.

"Lily's period started, and I couldn't find the Midol and Jared's out at the hospital 'till midnight. She started attacking me with a spatula. It's just better to leave Lily alone on her first night of her monthly gift. The mood swings get better after the first 24 hours." I'm pretty sure every male in the house had a terrified and disturbed, while Nelly just looked understanding.

"Isn't that a little violent?" Vikas asked the question in a whisper. It's funny how one of the oldest, strongest vampires can be cowed by the idea of a woman on her period.

"Oh, no. I'm much worse, during the first day. I usually give people bruises." She smiled peacefully, oblivious to the waves of terror radiating from every male. Nelly, once again, nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry, dear. You get used to it and learn how to control the mood swings after a couple years." She patted her shoulder.

"That's a relief. It would suck for Lily's and my future husbands otherwise." Aiza began to work on her English homework, humming slightly along with the song she was listening to on her iPod. The lyrics could be heard clearly, now that no one was speaking.

_Give your soul to me for eternity_

_Release your life and begin another time with me_

_End your grief with me, there's another way_

_Release your life; take your place inside the fire with me_

A guitar solo started then, and it looked like she was resisting the urge to play air guitar. I smiled slightly, attempting to ignore my fangs, fully extended at the smell of her blood. Otis and Vikas were staring at her, probably wondering how they would be able to see whether she was my drudge or not. I beat them to it.

"Aiza, open the fridge." Everyone's eyes flashed to my face before locking on to Aiza. She looked up onto my face, her eyes heavy lidded with what looked like sleepy confusion.

"Why? Do you want a drink?" I smirked at the double meaning her words unknowingly took.

"No. Open it anyway." Bemusement misted her eyes. My breath caught in my throat. She was beautiful, I couldn't deny that…

"Oh. If no one's going to get something from it, I don't think I will." She put her head down again and continued to scribble words down on lined paper. I shot a triumphant smirk at Otis and Vikas just as she jerked her head back up. "Unless it's a dare and mutant lasagna's going to leap out and try to crawl down my shirt when I do." She looked at me calculatingly, and I resisted the urges to laugh, lean away and drain her all at the same time. Her scent was making my head spin. Suddenly, guilt crossed her features and she puts her head down again.

Curiosity got the best of me and I slipped into her mind.

_Meredith looked at me-no, not me, Aiza-pleadingly. "Do you think, you know, that you could leave Vlad alone? I really want to see if we can try again." Guilt flooded Aiza as she looked at Meredith's tear stained face. "Sure. I mean, you saw him first." A smile spread across Meredith's face._

I pulled back, shocked. Aiza was trying to let Meredith're-seduce' me? How could I tell Meredith to move on, that I was dangerous, without hurting her even more? And Aiza. I couldn't let myself get to close to her, not if I was endangering her every time her neck got to close to my mouth. An icy shard of pain lodged itself in my chest. I was dangerous to everyone around me.

Otis's face ripped me out of my pool of self-pity. He was quickly looking back and forth between the newspaper and Aiza. Cold terror creeped into my veins. He didn't think that…? It definitely wasn't true. I _tasted_ vampire blood before, and it was nothing like Aiza's. There's no way… I just can't imagine her hurting anyone, and there's no way she's a vampire. The blood she had on her first night here. She puked after tasting it. Apparently Otis didn't think that cleared her name. He slipped the newspaper in front of her.

"What do you think of this, Aiza?"

"Hmm?" She read over the article quickly, pity wreathing her face. "Oh, my god, that poor person! God, I'm glad Jared made us stay in that night. I guess Friday nights _are_ unlucky."

"You were in that night?" My voice was just above a whisper.

"Oh. Yeah. Lily and I did mad dancing and facials and random fashion shows and stuff 'till about 1:30 in the morning, when Jared yelled at us to go to sleep and let him rest before he decapitated us." She smiled slightly. "He's still complaining."

Relief washed trough me like a tidal wave as Otis and Vikas relaxed. I knew she couldn't be a vampire. I leaned back. Now I'll we had to do is find the real culprit.

Aiza's bag then began to sing out the chorus of 'Sexy Chick'. She looked shocked for a moment, before she began rummaging in her bag, mumbling profanities. She pulled out a cell phone and put it to her ear.

"Ack!" She pulled the phone away, hysterical sobs coming from the other end. After a couple seconds, she put the phone against her ear again.

"No, shh, baby, it's okay. I'm sure the brownie didn't fall on purpose. I'm sure it doesn't hate you, sweetie." Her face went maternal and sweetly protective in a moment, despite the mentally unstable things she was saying. "Shh, listen, Lily baby. How about I come over now and bake an entire _pan _of brownies that _won't_ break?" She paused and listened for a moment. "Okay, sweetie, I'll buy some whipping cream and chocolate sauce too. How about that? Okay. I'll be there in 20 minutes, okay?" She mouthed over to us _I have to go, see you tomorrow._ "Yes, sweetie, I know that all males are heartless, selfish, thickheaded pigs. I know. It's terrible." She gathered up her things as she spoke softly to Lily on the other end.

When the door shut, all of us thickheaded males broke into unstoppable laughter.

End Notes: Wow, 2 chapters in one day. 2 looong ones. *wipes sweat from brow* For some reason Vlad's a lot easier to write than Aiza. *embarrassment* So, who can tell me what song I used? Or predictions! I love those! Click the little button underneath this to tell me!


	7. Gay Men Are Nicer

Stuff: I decided something. I'm going to give characters theme songs every couple chapters for absolutely no reason except for the fact that I'm bored. This is what I have for right now. Oh, yeah, the song last chapter was Inside the Fire-Disturbed.

Aiza: I Want You- Fefe Dobson. I don't know. It just suits her absolute awkwardness and bumbling through life type and the feelings she has for her crush (crushes?). Except for the last 2 minutes of it. Ignore that.

Vlad: I Will Not Bow- Breaking Benjamin. I don't know again. I just think it suits him growing up and becoming more emo and stuff.

Edward: Perfect Insanity- Disturbed. It'll make sense later. It will. Just keep on reading. (No, he's not criminally insane.) Think of it as a kind-of-preview-ish-thing.

This has been way to long. You'll want to read the chapter now.

Chapter 7

"Hey." Edward's voice came from behind me as I stood by my locker, his breath tickling the back of my neck.

"Ack!" I had a minor spaz, my hand flying up as my body twisted around to look at Edward's smirking face before I lost my balance and fell backwards. Into my locker.

Ow.

Edward laughed quietly-jerkishly, I might add. My butt's stuck in a locker and all he does is laugh.

Asshole.

He smiles in a Charming Mad Hatter type way before grabbing one of my elbows with one hand and putting his other his other hand on my shoulder blade, tugging and pushing me out of my locker. At this point, of course, my fangs were fully extended-I was biting down for America to keep from draining him-and I was beyond coherent speech, as all the blood for my brain had taken a bit of a holiday in my cheeks. I tripped over my feet attempting to straighten up, and fell into his chest this time.

Oh, god.

Someone stake me now.

"Ack! Oh, my, god, I'm so sorry! Oh god!" I jerked back and turned to my locker again, fishing out my sweater and my lunch bag from the pit of doom and despair to anything losable I call my backpack. I swear, I put anything that isn't the size of Fluffy the Pitbull in there and it disappears forever. I bet evil Christmas elves planted a portal to another world in there so they can teleport to this other world and take my crap and use it to make toys for snot nosed brats that always seem to get a whole pile of presents that cost 100 dollars each.

Screw Christmas cheer. Next time I see an elf at the mall I'm killing it.

Oh, god, it's not even Halloween and my grudge against Christmas is already rearing its ugly head.

Whatever.

"Would you like to go to Eat with me sometime? Perhaps this weekend?" Say whaaaaaaaaaaat? Derailed, I turned towards him faster than Melissa can sniff out a shoe sale. My witty and brilliant response was a long drawn out "Ehhhh?"

Go Canada. It's the universal answer.

He laughed slightly at my oh-so-musical response. He smiled in a devilish kind of way.

"What? You scared of being alone with me, Cray? Don't worry, I don't bite." His eyes sparkled with mirth. I looked away. Yet another reason to say no. _He_ may not bite, but _I _do. I could easily drain him if we were alone and the smell of him got to be too much. Great. Okay. I had my answer prepared. Now all I had to do is _say_ it. I took a deep breath, ready to play the character of the strong, independent feminist who doesn't need a boyfriend. My chance as a future feminist was shattered though.

Vlad decided to show up right about then.

God, he's really hot.

"Hey, Aiza, you ready to go to lunch?" He glared at Edward. Edward glared right back, the tension and testosterone snapping and cracking like an emo snapping elastic against their wrist. Meredith started glaring at me from the cafeteria door, strategically placed to 'accidently' bump into Vlad. My head snapped back and forth between Vlad, Edward and Meredith, before I got a twitching attack.

I slammed my locker shut, the sound shaking the trio out of their glaring contests, before running into the cafeteria.

Who says facing your problems is the only way to resolve them? Running works just fine for me.

Vlad's just experiencing testosterone induced jealousy at the fact that Edward was so close to me. At least that was what I kept telling myself. It's really not good for his health to want to be with me. I mean, _really_ be close to me.

Hence the reason I'm sitting with October, Andrew, Kristof, Sprat and his boyfriend Jack, eating my lunch and lamenting over my tale as I repeat it to them.

October let out a grin. "I don't see what your problem is, sweetie. You have two sexy men fighting for your heart, and you're upset. Have you seen their asses? Rumps carved by the gods, I swear." Her grin was big, and Kristof stiffened at that little comment. Really, if the boy would just grow enough balls to ask her out…Sprat and Jack were to busy giving goo-goo eyes to each other to comment on my tragic tale. I don't understand why they seemed to avoid taking their relationship out of the closet. I mean, they were hardly noticed now, how could that change if they started holding hands in public?

That was harsh.

Andrew gathered enough energy to lift his head from the table and look at me. I mean, _really_ _look_ at me. I gulped. Although that boy's as hot as hell, I tried to avoid noticing that. Because, in all honesty, he's a playboy. He goes through girlfriends like I go through Twinkies. He leaned forwards slightly.

"Aww, poor kitten." I shot a look of annoyance at him. I _hate_ that nickname. He ignored it, and cocked his head to the side, looking like he was observing an interesting, newly discovered insect from the Amazon jungle. I'm reduced from modern Amazon woman to modern Amazon insect in a matter of weeks.

Whoop whoop.

"I can understand where they're coming from, though. You are beautiful, kitten." Oh, no.

"Not you, too?!" My voice sounds like I recently discovered I have cancer. He laughs at me.

"Not like that. More like you'd make a good drunken, no-strings-attached snogging partner." My mouth dried as he got a pensive look in his eyes. "I bet you'd suck at it, though." Anger shot through me. Andrew could call me that annoying nickname, act like a pimpish older brother, make comments on my chest (or lack of), but he COULD NOT insult my kissing skills. Those were the one thing I could have my head held high about.

"My kissing skills are practically fucking professional! They could kick your skills out the window!" It's true! I bet he never had to work around fangs! He laughed again, before sliding close to me, pulling me onto his waist and slipping one arm around my waist, the other tipping my chin up.

"Prove it, kitten." His whisper made his breath fan across my face. My mouth dried up again. Good Lord, he was serious.

And then he pressed his lips to mine. Of course, my mouth was still open from shock when he did, so Andrew took full advantage of this. I had seemed to have gone into rigor mortis, just like I had when I fell into Edward, so I couldn't even hope to respond. After a couple seconds, he pulled away and set me in front of my lunch again, before moving away and resting his head on his hands again.

"Kitten, if you want a boy to like kissing you, it's best to respond." Heat crawled into my face as I smacked him. "Most of the time I get warning! And most of the time I actually _like-like_ the boy I'm kissing! Usually they don't act like my non-existent asshole older brother!" I continue to smack his head, before I feel the eyes of so many people on us. I looked up, and instantly want to get staked again.

Edward and Vlad looked like they were devising slow and painful ways to kill Andrew, Henry and Melissa look like freaking gossip mongrels, watching our every move and Lily is staring in open shock, her mouth open and a sandwich being held inches away from it. And Meredith just looks like she's going to piss herself, she's so happy. Damnit.

After a couple minutes of staring, people go on their daily tasks, such as cramming for tests and doing homework due next period. I look back at Andrew.

"I am going to freaking kill you!" I hiss. Sprat and Jack are staring at us in shock still, but Sprat shakes himself free of it and places his hand on mine and begins to verbally abuse Andrew for kissing me, Edward for making me confused and Vlad for just being distracting.

I love gay men.

They're so much nicer than straight ones.

***********************SNEAK PEAK**DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ**********

"_Oh, God, Aiza." His head is bent, his hands pinning my wrists. His fangs scrape along the skin on my neck. Oh, god, he's a vampire. How could I not tell? I was practically hysterical, my thoughts incoherent. "I don't know if I want to kiss you or if I want to rip your throat out…" A giggle burst from my mouth before I could stop it. He sounded so _serious_. I should be terrified. He could be one of Joseph's cronies…But I'm not scared at all. I'm hysterical. I'm drugged._

"_You're crazy." He spoke again, sounding amazed. And then he pressed his lips to mine._

End notes: Ohh, doesn't that just sound FREAKING AWSOME? Tell me what you think, using that fancy reviewing button! (P.S., I know this chapter is short, the next one will be longer.)


	8. My Plan's Set

Stuff: This is when I write something. Oohhh, look, words are appearing on the screen when I press the square buttons down! It's a miracle! This is pretty much the only chapter that isn't really a filler. Yay for plot advancement! Yes, this does have a bigger plot than the daily troubles of an insane hybrid.

Chapter 8

Vlad's POV

I snarled as I fell down on my bed, tossing the homework I was supposed to be doing over my head. Henry ducked frantically, the textbook barley missing his head.

"Err, Vlad, let's just give up on math for right now? You know, lower the stress levels?" He sat on the edge of the bed, acting like it was only the homework that made me so pissed of at things in general. I grimaced. It was the fact that my thirst was growing, that I had to try hard to stop myself from jumping _Henry_, let alone Aiza. It was the fact that Meredith was stuck in my head, and the fact that she kept trying to corner me, which took some skilled dodging on my part to avoid her. I didn't want to hurt her. Not anymore than I already have.

It was the fact that, despite what I am, I want to get closer to Aiza. The feeling I get when I'm around her is much to close to the feeling I got when I was with Meredith to be complementary to Aiza's health, sanity and over all well being. Not that she had much sanity now. It was the fact that Aiza's blood still smells like crimson heaven. It was the fact that there was something off-kilter about Edward, and I couldn't figure out, and he was insistent on getting into Aiza's pants.

But mostly it was the fact that I had to see that damned gothic playboy kiss her.

I pulled my lip back and snarled again, and Henry decided that I needed a blood bag. I gagged at the thought and debated for a minute about calling Snow, before shaking my head sharply. I only saw her last week. It wasn't fair to her for me to see her any more. Besides, I wasn't very thirsty. I was just pissed off at the world and Andrew. Especially Andrew.

The images started to come up again, and I sat up abruptly and started downstairs to the kitchen. When I got down there, Henry was rustling around in the freezer and Nelly was beginning to make supper. Vikas and Otis were in deep discussion at the kitchen.

"What's going on?" I moved past Henry, grabbed one of the last blood bags there was there, and moved to sit down at the table. I smiled as I bit down. It was A positive, the same kind that made Aiza puke. My smile disappeared at the sight of Otis and Vikas's faces. "What?"

Vikas cleared his throat. "Another body was found. Completely drained of blood. Police suspect cult killings." A cold chill crept through my veins. They didn't think it was me again? "You were with us on that night, Vlad, so it couldn't have been you." I breathed a sigh of relief that was cut short at Otis's next words.

"It seems yet another vampire has taken an interest in Bathory."

"Could it be D'Ablo?" I was almost hoping it was, just to know who it actually was.

"No. D'Ablo wouldn't have let the bodies have been found so easily. This vampire almost seems to _want_ the bodies to be found. Either that or they just aren't careful at all. Perhaps it's a newborn, but I doubt it." Otis looked pensive, thinking about the possibilities.

"There's something else." Vikas spoke up again. Otis turned towards him, surprise lighting his features. Otis didn't know what the 'something else' was. It was petty, but felt glad that they weren't leaving me out of the going-ons of Elysia, simply because of the title of 'Pravus' I had hanging over my head. "The president of the Cairo council was found with a stake in her heart, and the vice-president of my council has found threatening messages aimed towards him and me." Shock reverberated through the room. A vampire that strong, killed off. Especially one with such power in Elysia. "It seems that a group of rogue vampires are targeting-"

That's when every electrical device in the house shut down.

Unknown Person's POV

I gasped, leaning against the back of Vladimir Tod's house. They had gotten so close, much to close to the truth of the matter. I had to distract them somehow, although turning off every electrical device in the house seemed a little extreme. Not only that, it drained me like nothing else. I was shaking and sweaty, gasping like a fish put of water. I forced myself to quiet my breathing to focus on what was being said in the half-bloods house. He couldn't be the Pravus, the Cray girl already was…he was just an anomaly. One that I would take great pleasure in destroying. I smirked. Ignatius would be pissed when I did.

"Do you think the vamp is still here?" The idiot drudge was saying. I didn't know why someone didn't just wring his neck already. I shivered at the thought of the snap; the light fading from his eyes…yes, death would suit the drudge.

"No. He would have run as soon as he had done the deed." The Siberian council President answered. I thanked fate that they overestimated my strength.

"I suppose we'll just have to head over to Jared Reid's house then. I won't be able to cook anything. The stove is electric." I stiffened in panic. My job was to bring the Pravus back to Joseph. If she should form too many emotional attachments here…

But even as I thought this, I knew I could do nothing. I already was ready to sleep for 3 nights. Anything else would get me killed…I suppose, if Joseph were here, he'd want me to stop them, even at my life's expense. That thought forced me to be quiet, forced me to let them pass…Any rebellion against the hated man was good, even a small one. He was the one who forced me into servitude. Besides, how hard could it be to bring the girl back, anyway? Young girls always fall in love too easily, and then tend to be ready to follow those they love to the pits of hell. I had seen it before.

I smiled. My plan was set. Kill the Tod boy. Bring the Pravus back to Joseph. Watch Elysia burn. And then I'd kill Joseph.

I let out a quiet laugh, and began to drunkenly stumble back to the house I slept in on shaking limbs.

End Notes: Ack, such a short chapter. The next one, I promise promise promise will be longer. Way longer. Guess's at who the unknown is? Tell me using that interesting device called the REVIEW BUTTON.


	9. Wait, What?

Stuff: I'm eating cinnamon raisin toast with a lot of butter right now.

Chapter 9

"_Mommy! It's Christmas!" At five years old, my fat legs were running as fast I could to get downstairs, where I could smell breakfast. Homemade waffles and warm blood. Yum. Mommy would drink the icky stuff she called 'orange juice'. She never drank the blood I offered her, even when Uncle Jared brought home extra. I shook my head. Mommy could be so silly. I tripped over the edge of the carpet and would have fallen if it wasn't for the arms that wrapped around me and pulled me into them. I gasped and wriggled around to face the person. It was a man with pale skin, crimson-brown eyes and long dark hair, and he was wearing all black, the shirt open to reveal his chest. He was _pretty_! Had I been a couple years older, I would have called his face elegant, like royalty, but at the time, pretty was the only came to my mind. I ran my hands over his face without thinking. He didn't react, just stared back at me._

"_Who are you?" I smiled as I asked him. I didn't mind him to much, just I really wanted to get to breakfast. Maybe the Pretty Man could eat with us. "Do you want to have breakfast with me and Mommy?" I took him by the hand and tried to lead him downstairs, but he held me back. A twinge of fear started through my chest._

"_You don't want to go down there." His voice was like his face, very pretty. I stared with wide eyes as I saw teeth just like mine when I was hungry pop out of his mouth. I gaped. I probably should have been screaming, but he gave of the feeling that he wanted to help me, not hurt me. "Why?" My voice was barely above a whisper, just like his._

"_Your mommy is in trouble." I gasped at that, and took off down the stairs. I didn't believe him anymore. Mommy never got in trouble. She was _Mommy._ She couldn't get into trouble. The Pretty Man caught up with me and picked me up. I kicked my legs, but something made all my muscles tense up, like a voice in my mind. I couldn't move an inch. "Do you want me to prove it?" He walked down the stairs, stopping by an alcove so that we could see into the front room, but the people in the front room couldn't see us. I used that corner to spy on Mommy and Uncle Jared when they talked grown up stuff. When he leaned forward for us to see, I would have gasped. Mommy was crouched, frozen, like she couldn't move, just like me, in front of the Christmas tree, the pile of presents crushed. A man with long teeth like the Pretty Man's and short black hair with pale skin was standing in front of her._

"_What the hell? Who the hell are you?" I was shocked. Mommy used a bad word, the same one she told me to never to use. She stood, her muscles trembling like she was trying very hard to move. The man spoke._

"_Where is the child?" His voice reminded me of the oil that sometimes dripped out of Mommy's car. Black and slippy._

"_I got an abortion. I was only 18! Now leave me alone!" I didn't understand what she was saying. What was going on?_

"_You're lying. But I'll find the freak, believe me. My name is D'Ablo, on that point. And I can't leave you alone, my dear. You are a human, and you know too much." He walked towards Mommy, before stiffening and looking towards the corner the Pretty Man and I were. The Pretty Man pulled back, pressing me closer to him. The Bad Man started walking towards us, but then Mommy, looking like she was working very hard, ran in front of the Bad Man, pushing his head towards her neck. The Bad Man seemed to lose focus then, biting into Mommy's neck. I tried to scream, but I still couldn't move at all. The Bad Man closed his eyes as he began to suck, Mommy sinking towards the floor. Pretty Man went back upstairs then, even though I tried to scream at him to go back down and help Mommy. He jumped out of a window, making no noise at all. He began to run, the cold biting into my skin. I shivered as tears began to roll down my cheeks. In a couple minutes, we were in front of Uncle Jared's. Pretty Man knocked on the door, shifting his hold on me. Uncle Jared opened the door, looking shocked. He quickly grabbed me out of Pretty Man's arms._

"_Who the hell are you?" He pressed me closer to him, and I leaned into him. He was so warm._

"_You know the things that knocked your sister up? Vampires?" Uncle Jared nodded. "They just killed her for knowing too much. You have to pack your bags and get the hell out of here. They might come after you for knowing." Jared turned on his heels, wrapping me in a blanket on the couch, before methodically packing up clothes and things. Pretty Man stepped inside and helped. Uncle Jared didn't ask questions. In a couple hours-I still hadn't moved from my place on the couch, even though I knew could-Jared dressed and turned towards Pretty Man._

"_What about the police?" _

"_I'll take care of it. Minds are easy to manipulate." Jared nodded, accepting this answer._

"_Why? Did you help, I mean?" He looked toward the Pretty Man._

"_Because the girl has a chance to change the very foundations of the world. I can't let someone like her be slaughtered." Jared nodded again, before asking one more question._

"_Who are you?" Pretty Man turned to the couch, seeming to address me._

"_I used to be called Jarha. You can call me Joseph."_

I woke up with a gasp, my eyes popping open. I flailed my arms around like an idiot before smacking my head against the headboard.

Brilliant. That really sporking hurt.

I sighed as the dream fuzzed out. I always remembered that day better in my dreams or in my visions. True, I never really checked out that specific point of time in a vision, as I'm not a masochist. I looked at the time. 3:30 AM. I'd been asleep for about 2 hours after tossing and turning like a pig with indigestion. I sighed and got up. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again, as the familiar heat of embarrassment settled in my chest. Sweet Jesus. Vlad just had to come to my house today. Ack. Vladimir & Co. just had to walk in as Lily and I were doing our 'We Don't Need Men Because They Betwixt And Befuddle And Kiss You Without Warning' dance. In booty shorts and bras.

Yeah.

I know.

I thought their jaws were going to fall through the floor as their brains exploded out their ears or something.

…bad mental image.

I had a twitching spaz as I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to the kitchen, attempting to find something that would not only distract me from the epic fail that was Vlad at my house, but would distract me from the lingering memory of my mother stuck to the insides of my skull. She had raised me with my father's last name, even though I wanted to have hers. The few times I had met my father, I disliked him intensely. And she always smelled like orchids and vanilla or something equally motherly and awesome.

Dammit. I need a distraction.

Oh, look, a lightbulb above my head.

I'll go drink blood.

I ripped open my fridge and yanked out my favourite type. Good old B negative. What would I do without you to silence the thoughts in my head? I bit down through the plastic and the red goodness filled up my mouth and tumbled down my throat like a waterfall of beauty and greatness and Twinkies and love and flowers and sunshine and…good stuff.

I love blood.

Good Lord, that sounded emoish.

Whatever.

I sighed again as I sat at the kitchen table. The same one, that, a couple hours before, Vlad had been staring at like it held the answers to the world mysteries, such as where the babies come from, and I had been avoiding anyone's gaze. Lily simply hadn't come down for dinner, so I was forced to deal with the awkwardness by myself. All alone. A lone island avoiding the gaze of many as the island's uncle simply tried to stifle laughter. A black pit of despair and the agony of aloneness that was sucking up its soul, bit by bit…

And then dinner ended and they went home very quickly.

I threw the bag out, and slipped on some clogs and a cardigan and went outside. I was in one of my mom's old nightgowns, so the soft fabric kept me warm. I debated what I would do, now that I was outside. I could use my kickass vamp skills to float through the air till I was on the top of the roof, but that had gotten hard to do since someone had seen me do it in Venice. For minor amusement, I began to have a conversation with myself in Italian as I walked to the Bathory Church. When I got there I sat at the base of the stairs and began to re-debate whether I should float into the bell tower and use my awesome second sight to find out what the scandal that happened here was. I nixed that idea quickly. I so didn't want to see an insane priest kill people as they went to confess the fact that they told on their little brother or something.

Turns out amusement would decide to slap me in the face, because I heard an incredulous voice behind me say one thing.

"Aiza?" Oh, crap, it's Vlad.

"Ack!" I turned around at lightening speed, my hands slipping where they were placed to support my weight, and my face fell onto Vlad's shoes.

How motherlicking faboo.

Vlad stared at me-sprawled in a rather unladylike heap on the stairs- for a moment before chuckling and helping me right myself.

Why is it that boys always laugh before helping me out of my klutz-caused predicaments?

"Hey!" Oh, good Lord, my voice sounded like one of those annoying yippy dog voices that the blond head cheerleaders have. Vlad brings out the worst in me.

"Hey, yourself." How can someone sound like their so cool they don't even need to try and trying would just knock everyone out? I don't even know.

"So, what are you doing out on this fine mid-autumn night?" Why does my brain do this to me? It seems to want to completely destroy my life by not taking over my mouth. Vlad gave a half smile as he sat next to me.

"I could ask you the same thing." Oh, right. I was out in that fine mid-autumn night, too. "But I was out thinking about my parents." I was shocked that he would reveal this to me.

"Oh." My voice faltered slightly. He gave me a sideways amused look.

"It's been almost 7 years, Aiza. If I can't talk about them now, I'll never be able to." My eyes remained wide. "These types of nights remind me of them, is all."

"Oh." I have been reduced to a pile of mush that can only say one word. Vlad is just so…deep or something. His eyes have an old soul look, like he's seen stuff that I can't imagine. He smiled without looking at me.

"So, why are _you_ out?" I had an answer to that. I did. I just had to shift through the mush to find it. Oh, right.

"I couldn't sleep. My brain kept attacking me with memories of Mom." Now I was shocked at myself. I never mentioned her out loud, not even to Lily or Jared. My mush-brain is way to slack with security when it sees Vlad. I'll have to give it a talk later. Vlad looked at me, my own shock mirrored on his face.

"Oh." That really is a popular word. He fell silent. "I have a question. You don't have to answer it if you don't want." I nodded at him like a nodding dog, signifying that he should continue. "Why do you and Lily live with Jared?" I looked to my hands. No one asked me that before. I didn't have a scripted answer for it, like I did for other questions concerning my family. Vlad saw this and interpreted it wrong.

"Oh, god. You don't have to answer if you don't want to." His hands waved around my face. I raised a finger. "I'm fine. I'm gonna answer, I just have to think for a minute." He nodded and sat back, leaning on his forearms and looking at the sky. A sharp pang went through me. If only I didn't have the slightly annoying problem of wanting to suck his blood…

What a freaking elephant in the room.

"Ho-kay. So, basically, my mom died in a…electrical fire when I was 5. I was sleeping over at Jared's at the time." The story Joseph gave me flew from my mouth. "We moved afterwards, and we met Lily and I became really good friends with her. She was in the system at this time. Her mom was a drunk and gave her up. So Jared adopted her, too. And then, after staying in Canada for a bit, we moved to Venice. And we learned Italian-well, Lily and I did, Jared already knew-and, after 2 years, we moved here." I skipped over all the parts of my life that involved vampires, having a vague feeling he wouldn't want to hear about that. I then smiled, thinking I had summed it up well. And then Vlad opened his mouth. Bye-bye that feeling.

"I was wondering why you didn't live with your dad." Well, I really should have seen that one coming.

"Errr…."

"You don't have to answer."

"I want to!"

"Okay! Chill!"

"I AM chill!"

"Okay!"

"Okay!"

"Okay."

"Okay."

"…………"

Well, this isn't awkward at all. I cleared my throat. He did the same. After a couple minutes of silence, I blurted something out.

"I have his last name. I hate him and his name, but I have his last name." Vlad looked sideways at me. "He got my mom pregnant when she was 18. He stayed, and acted like he was going to be the perfect baby daddy. And then when I was, like, 6 days old, he left." Vlad looked mildly shocked at this. "I've met him. Every couple of years we have lunch. I hate him, but when he asks to have lunch with me, I never say no. I don't know why." In reality, usually, he just takes me to a fancy restaurant where he gets one glass of red wine, and I get the most expensive thing on the menu, even if I hate it. I heave a big sigh of release. You never know how heavy unspoken words are until you get rid of them.

"Hmmm." Vlad really has brilliant responses.

"Yeah. So that's it." That was far from _it_, but that was all that I could tell him. Vlad didn't push; he just nodded before standing up and offering a hand to me. Insert incoherent mumbling and blushing here.

His hand is all really dry and warm and calloused and awesome and sweet. And yeah.

We walked next to each other, our shoulders brushing slightly. When we finally reached my front gate, he put his hand on my shoulder. I turned towards him, the look on his face making me gape slightly. Think about all the hot melancholic expressions you've ever seen on any slightly good looking male, mix them all together, and you get his expression.

"Eerrr, Vlad?" He looked like I just poked him with a tazer.

"Oh, god. Um, bye, see you at school." He turned quickly before entering his abode of awesomeness, leaving me standing in front of my house with a slightly dazed expression.

2 questions:

1: What the hell was that?

2: Why can't I just shut the hell up?

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

So, Vlad's in my English class. And since all teachers are sadistic animals that bay for blood and embarrassment, dear Mrs. Holly decided to pair me up with him in a project that required working with him while staying coherent.

We have to sort of re-write Romeo and Juliet using different things, like the jock and the geek, and then we have to film a scene. The only thing she banned was sex scenes.

Oh, darn. And I was so looking forward to that, too.

Whatever.

Hence the fact that we are sitting on the thingimejigers that line each side of the stairs to the church, you know, the things with the lions on it, and discussing ideas while I gorge on Twinkies. Twinkies keep the idiots of this world functioning. But then my brain decides to do something active for once, instead of letting my mouth do the thinking (always a bad idea, by the way), and gives me a sudden stroke of awesome geniousity.

"Let's do vampires and werewolves!!!!"

Or not.

Darling Vladicus, surprisingly, agreed to do this quite readily, even though I suddenly didn't want to talk about what I really am in front of my English class, it now seems to be a done deal. At the end of out awesome brainstorming session, he asked a question I never really expected. That seems to be a habit of his.

"Do you believe in vampires?" His face was suddenly quite serious, and I half expected him to whip out the garlic and crosses and start screaming 'MONSTER!!!' in my face. But, as he doesn't, I answer the best way I can.

"Errr, well, the world's just too big, you know, for us to know everything that there is out there. So, yeah, I guess I do." You have no idea how much I do. He nodded slightly, thinking over my answer before shooting out another one.

"And if you met one, what would you do?" Wow, what the hell was I supposed to say to that? Well, I could just say what I hoped peoples mindsets would be if they found out about me.

"Well, vampires could feel emotions, too, right? Pain and loneliness and betrayal and anger, right? So, if I met one, I would probably be kind. I would give him a chance to let me know him. It's not fair for any living being to be alone, even ones that drink blood." I was looking at my hands as I said this, so I only felt him come closer. I could feel his body heat and his breath along my face. Oh, sweet Jesus. His beautiful hand (when the hell did his hand become beautiful?) was on the side of my face and my neck, tilting my head up. My eyes widened. His eyes were, like, 2 inches from mine. We were breathing each others carbon dioxide.

Oh, my, god, he's going to kiss me.

He'sgonnakissmehe'sgonnakissmehe'sgonnakissmehe'sgonnakissmehe'sgonna-

He walked away.

Wait, what?

End notes: Yeah. Mmhmm. The song I'm listening to right now is tik tok by kesha. I love it. So, yeah. It's maybe filler ish, but this chapter is longer than the others, right? HAHAHA! I DID IT! Now tell me what you think by reviewing. I COMMAND IT, DRUDGES! *tyrannical/insane/drunken laughter*


	10. Of Assslaps,Umbrellas and Mascara Lines

Stuff: I love you all. I do. Honestly. All the reviews have been super-duper AMAZING. Much thanks to all who have. Oh, yeah, new theme songs (ish).

Aiza: 1985- Bowling for Soup (I don't even know. Don't ask.)

Vlad: Savior- Rise against

Edward: Check my Brain- Alice in Chains

All will make sense if you keep reading.

Chapter 10

I wonder how much trouble it would be to kill Andrew without anyone finding out. Really, I think Fate must get a kick out of my suffering, what with the idiotic friends he gave me.

"He-he just-HAHAHAHA-WALKED AWAY?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" One of said idiotic friends was rolling on the floor, looking dangerously close to pissing himself. I grit my teeth (well, fangs, actually) as I resisted biting him. Really, I'm getting tired of being laughed at because of the non-stop perils of my apparently comical life. Well, I needed to share my laments with someone, so now I'm hanging out with Lily, October-who seems to be taking sadistic pleasure from my never-ending agony-, Kristoff, Sprat and Jack. And Andrew. Of course Andrew.

The bane of my sporking existence.

Guess who's laughing?

"Wow, kitten, you must really turn men off!" He grinned, wiping tears from his face. I, of course, became as mad as a cat that was just shoved into a toilet that was just used by a fat man in McDonald's.

"What did you say?" I reeled back my hand for a massive bitchslap.

"Mm? Has this kitty got claws?" He grinned again, and that was when I released the bitchslap of the century.

SLAP!

October, Sprat, Lily and Jack fell over themselves laughing as Kristoff smirked. Andrew just laughed it off.

Screw him.

Fucking playboys. Slaps just don't affect them as much as they used to.

After the red had faded from Andrew's face, we decided to turn on some really loud music and dance like idiots.

Mm. Nothing like tortured emo rock and bad dancing to distract you from boy troubles.

After a while, Jack and Sprat decided to start making out, and that was about when everyone decided to vacate Sprat's basement to give the lovebirds some room. We simultaneously started running towards Eat when we reached the sunlight. October slapped Kristoff's butt as she ran past, dragging me behind her, and I was dragging Lily behind me. So basically, Kristoff not only got his ass slapped, he was also run over by two different girls as they all ran like maniacs to get their hands on half baked, overpriced brownies and bad espressos.

Sometimes you have to pity the man.

But then again, if he gathered up enough testosterone inflated manly pride to ask October out already, then maybe it wouldn't hurt so much to sit down. She only does it to get his attention, anyway.

Maybe I should slap Vlad's butt…

Or maybe Edward's…

LALALALALALALALALALATIMESKIPLALALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lily was asked on a date. By a baseball player with a nice car. Who just so happens to be Henry's brother. Yeah, you can imagine that Lily leaped at _that_ chance. So, of course, I had to walk home all on my lonesome. So, of course it had to rain as I walked home. So, of _course_ Lily had to be the one with the umbrella. And I'm wearing mascara.

OMG, I'm a raccoon face!

Whatever.

Now, for once, Fate must have felt bad about giving me such bad friends and decided to be nice to me for once.

Ish.

Edward came up beside me and held out his umbrella.

"Need some help?" He smiled crookedly, even though he looked absolutely and positively exhausted. Seriously. He even had purple-grey bags under his eyes. And yet he still managed to perform a Charming Mad Hatter smile. Brilliant. How are boys just naturally born with the ability to know what makes girls like them? It's positively insane. But, to even the playing field, I give a brilliant answer.

"Oh, NO, Edward. Why in the WORLD would I be in need of HELP?!" Oh, to top of the list in the beginning. My period just started as I was walking home from school. So now I have that jello-y feeling and massive cramps on top of everything else. Edward looked mildly terrified at my answer.

"I definitely don't need help, EVEN though I have been ABANDONED by those I love, EVEN though it raining and I look like a drowned raccoon, EVEN though there is NO freaking Midol in the house. Now tell me, Edward, WHY the HELL would I need HELP in my freaking position?!" His face just went from mildly terrified to full blown Friday the 13th type face. Penile thinkers always seem to do that when women talk about their bleeding girly bits. How strange.

"Oh. Well, I'm very sorry to have asked. I'm not going to comment." His eyes closed and his face was suddenly lined with exhaustion. Wow, he was really looking unhealthy.

"Whoa, hey, are you okay?" He rolled his eyes to me, looking curious. "Did you get the H1N1 vaccine? I heard that being tired is a warning signal." Edward was looking amused now. "WHAT? So I'm NOT allowed to be worried?" He smiled slightly.

"It's not the flu, Aiza…I'm just tired."

"Mmhmm. Okay. Fine." As I was saying this I was taking his umbrella and linking his arm with mine, leading him back to my house.

"Aiza…"

"Shut up. I will give you tea with honey; you will drink the tea with honey as I take your temperature, and when you're done you'll be like 'wow, Aiza, thanks for the tea. Now you'll sleep well knowing that I am not sick.' And then you will bundle up and go straight home, where you will change into flannel pyjamas, watch a movie and go to bed early." He continued looking amused throughout my tirade, as I unlocked my door and led him inside. For some reason, the song 'Umbrella' got stuck in my head as I got him settled on the couch with a blanket around him, even though he protested, and while I was making his tea. Humming loudly and somewhat off-tune, I shoved the tea into his hands.

"Aiza, I really don't need to drink-" I whacked him over the head.

"Drink."

"Aiza-" WHACK!

"Drink."

"Aiza-" WHACK!

"I can continue this all day, so if you care about your remaining brain cells, you will drink the tea." I raised my hand in warning again, and Edward shrunk away, lifting the mug to his lips. He started taking big gulps.

"Good boy."

He smiled as I sat next to him and plugged my iPod into the speakers on the coffee table. The first cords of 'Rain' by Breaking Benjamin began to echo around the room. Edward smiled slightly as a realization came over me. I had a hot, very nice-although probably unstable- boy in my house. On the couch next to me.

Oh, my god.

Wait, what about Vlad?

I like them both.

HOLY CRAP!

Have I become a shameless vixen?

I was freaking out on the inside when Edward spoke.

"You like this song?" He seemed incredulous. His voice brought me back to my surroundings, out of my horrible mush-brain images of my being a terrible floozy.

"Ahh…what?" He looked amused as he repeated his question.

"Oh, yeah, I do. Otherwise, you know, it wouldn't be on my iPod, and I wouldn't be listening to it and-" He laughed.

"I get it. You just seem to be the type of person to listen to happy, oh-isn't-the-world-wonderful songs." I nodded. Even though I didn't really get what he just said. We sat next to each other in silence as we listen to the singer crooning about rain. Sweet Jesus, I could feel his body heat from here. I had a minor twitching spaz and I slammed my wrist against his forehead to check his temperature. Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that I might push him over.

I really need to encourage my brain to do something instead of be mush for once.

Although I didn't much mind toppling into him.

"Oh, god, Aiza." Wow, I never knew one could sound both awkward and exasperated at the same time. He helped me into a sitting position, and that happened to get our faces close together. I could feel his breath on my face, and my fangs decided to make a surprise appearance. I held my breath, the air seeming to get thinner.

Edward whispered something unintelligible as he tipped my head up with his hand. His lips were about a millimeter from mine when his eyes widened and he leaned away, gathering up his things.

"Aiza…I really have to go. Thanks for everything. I'll watch 'The Ring' or something when I get home." He let himself out just as the first pang of rejection started up in my chest. I felt a stinging behind my eyes, and I let out a shuttering breath. I didn't even know why it hurt so much.

You know what? I'm just gonna blame it on my period and the mood swings that accompany it.

Not because I like both Vlad and Edward, and that they apparently don't like me back.

I really am a shameless vixen.

I sobbed slightly, tears running down my face.

This time the mascara stripes had nothing to do with rain.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Vlad's POV

I rolled over and cursed the demonic time-telling device called the alarm clock. The little numbers on the right hand side had only increased by 15, the time now being 3:56. I snarled-I really have been doing that a lot lately- as I got up and started pacing in my room. Goddammit. Why did the exact memories I was trying to ignore decide to pop up in my head when I'm trying to sleep? I hissed as I went downstairs and grabbed a blood bag. The memories replayed in my head as I bit down.

"_It's not fair for any living creature to be alone, even ones that drink blood." Aiza was looking down as she said this, her face soft. My eyes widened as I did something undeniably idiotic. I cursed slightly as I tipped her head up to mine. Why the hell was life doing this to me? Putting this…this insane girl in front of me, tempting me to expose myself for someone who-if she had any brains- would run away, but, from what I saw, allow me to get to close, close enough to slip up and kill her? Such an idiot. Why the hell did she decide to come and fuck up my life even more? Her eyes were wide when she looked up at me, surprised at how close we were. An emotion swelled in my chest, one that I didn't want to analyze for fear of what I might find, as I brought our faces even closer. Just a kiss… And then fire ripped through from my throat, spreading through my body. The urge to rip her throat, to drink her blood until she was cold, made me gasp. I had to get away. I slipped away regretfully, pulling out my cell phone to call Snow. _

I winced. I barley had time to recover before the next one ran through my mind.

"_Vlad." Oh, god. Meredith turned up at exactly the wrong time, being only seconds after I hung up with Snow. I couldn't hurt her, not Meredith…it was hard to know that I couldn't be with her without killing her. The urge to hold Meredith, to protect her, swept though me. I clenched my hands and turned towards her. "Meredith, this really isn't a good-" She moved forwards and wrapped her arms around my waist. I gasped as the fire ripped through me again. I clenched my jaw as hard as I could, to avoid hurting her. "Vlad, please. I-I really care for you. I don't know why you did what you did, but I still care for you, and I know you still care for me. If you're in trouble, that's fine with me. If this is emotional…Vlad, I can help. Just let me in." I almost laughed. She thought I was depressed, and that's why I ended things. She said she wanted to help me. I winced as I thought of what I had to do next. I had to hurt her, and I would have to keep hurting her, to keep her safe. I forced my voice to be cold. "You can help me by staying away." I pushed her back and turned around, walking away._

I winced again. Dammit. Maybe it would easier if I gift wrapped myself and drove to the Stokerton council right now. I laughed bitterly at that thought. Things would be a lot easier. The thought of Aiza, 5 houses over, made my fangs elongate, even as I threw the empty blood bag away. I sighed again, but froze as I heard the door opening. Some one was breaking in? I got up from the table to look out into the hall to look out, only to be shocked when I saw Lily heading towards me.

What the hell?

I was even more shocked when she reeled back and slapped me.

"What the hell?" I hiss.

"Don't you what the hell me! Not only do you play with Aiza's feelings-she's not a freaking Barbie- but you hurt Meredith even more?! What the fuck is wrong with you? You sadist!" Lily let out a deep breath before smiling at me. "Have a nice night!" She waved slightly and turned on her heels and let herself out of the house, acting like this was a normal occurrence.

She must be bi-polar.

With my cheek stinging and a strong resolve to start researching the nearest asylum, I make my way back upstairs. I was way too tired to even think about what happened.

My last thought before I fell asleep was something along the lines of _What the hell._

End notes: In all honesty, I don't know what to think of this chapter. I really don't. Just so you know, I based Lily off of someone I know, who would definitely break and enter to bitchslap someone. Reviews would be amazing. *coughveVeoncough* Speaking of veVeon, go read and review on her stories, too. You'll find her on my favourite authors page. 


	11. Say Hello, Ignatius

Stuff: OMG, I haven't looked at this in the longest time…thanks to Dark –Purple, I'm getting off my butt. But I do have an explanation! I had the flu, and then I had a case of writers block. And then I had a case of lethargy.

Chapter 11

I've been in many awkward situations before. (Read: puking at the first meeting, 'Vladicus', getting caught stalker-staring, falling over multiple times, losing control of my mouth, the almost kisses…the list could go on.) But this has to top at least one of them by three-fold. This guy in my English class-very nice, judging from my conversations with him -had decided to walk up to me in the cafeteria and ask me out to go to Matthew's Halloween dance.

"C'mon, Aiza, it'll be fun!" Ari smiled, his tan skin, spiky blond hair and blue eyes radiating 'awesome guy to take out' vibes. I mean, really, how can a guy look so…freaking happy all the time? And how the hell can you say 'no' to such a face? To watch it fall into eternal anguish as my words cleave open a gash in his soul and crimson despair pours from the wound, drowning all happy moments, replaced with the memory of never ending agony…

"Err…" I looked to Lily, already seated at a rickety cheap plastic table with Henry's brother(I would call Lily a cruel word, but she's my bestie so I can't) to guide me through this challenging time in my life, but as she and Greg looked mildly stunned, like someone had just tazered them, I didn't expect much help. Vlad, Henry and Melissa were fairing no different at the other side of the cafeteria. So I turned to Andrew & Co.'s table.

Why do I even bother?

They were just killing themselves laughing-well, Kristoff was smirking, which is as close as he's gonna get- and Andrew had tears in his eyes. They calmed down slightly, and then Andrew looked up at me and saw my horrified expression and they were off again.

Well, jolly good, I'll just tell Ari I would be busy Halloween night murdering my friends.

Whatever.

I turned to his face, his smiled somewhat dimmed.

"Aiza, if someone's already asked you…" His eyes flicked to Andrew, clearly remembering what I had dubbed 'The Lunch Period From Hell'. Insert spaz here.

"Ack! No! No one's asked me! Especially not hi-" Wow, I never knew a happy glow could blind someone into silence.

"Great! Aiza, you just made me the happiest dude in the high school cafeteria!" Ari smiled, my eyes burned, and he led me to a table with him for lunch.

Sweet Jesus, I'm sure no one else accidentally gets dates to parties they never planned on attending.

Now I just have to find a way to get away from him and tell him no…

"So, Aiza, I noticed that you really like Twinkies, and my mom always buys too many, so I brought extra to share with you!"

Nevermind.

* * *

"Oh, my GAWD, AIZA! YOU HAVE A DATE WITH ARI SMITH?! He's like the most hottest athlete in the SCHOOL! I mean, GOD, Henry's a FREAKING SEX BEAST, but he's taken so…ARI'S THE NEXT BEST THING! YOU'RE SO LUCKY!!!!!!!!" Well, I now know that apparently multiple perms fry cheerleaders' brains or something. We were in the change room for gym-the worst class ever- when I had been mobbed by the cheer group. Yeah.

"Errr…..yeah." Oh, yeah. People just wished that they had my conversation skills.

"So, like, you know you're gonna have to kiss him, right?" A blued eyed, blond haired, c-cupped person asked me. I gaped as this knowledge sunk in.

"Wait, what?" Blondy rolled her eyes.

"Really, Aiza, you honestly didn't know? The only way to keep a guy with you is to give him what he wants, but not all of what he wants, you know? To, like, brush your fingers against his…itch, but not to scratch it." I had the strangest feelings that I was being preached about the religion of ho-ness. Wow, anthropologists should quit Africa, they have enough strange rituals in the modern high school to make Temprence Brennan gaze in wonder. "If you don't, or if they sense that you won't, they leave and find someone who can." With this, she smiled and adjusted her bra. Did someone just imply something? _Oh, yes, she did._

"Err, um, okee dokee…I guess…ish." Well, that was clear as day.

"That's probably why Vlad broke up with you, Meredith." Blondie turned towards Meredith changing quietly in the corner, ignoring the conversation, smiling in a mildly sadistic manner. "You were obviously being too prudish, and now he's found some freak goth chick with legs like peanut butter." Meredith looked up, avoiding my eyes. She was still semi-pissed at me for staying in the way of Vladdie darling. Well, she never made any moves on him, as far as I was concerned. Meredith glared at Blondy slightly.

"Peanut butter? What do you mean by that, Stephenie?" Blondy-apparently named Stephanie-smirked in an entirely bitchy manner.

"Smooth and easy to spread. Something you couldn't do." Meredith paled and her lips began to tremble as she stood up sharply and stalked towards the changing room door, ready to face the rabid pitbull-human hybrid entitled 'The Gym Teacher'. Surprisingly, she reached for my hand and began to tow me out as well.

"Let's go, Aiza. These bitches don't know what their talking about on how to keep a man. And, Stephanie? I think mines a fair tradeoff. So I don't have a boyfriend. At least I'm not spending $20 on condoms every week." She turned and gave a full glare. "One wonders what you do to get enough money." A chorus of 'oh's echoed through the room as Stephanie's jaw dropped and Meredith yanked me through the door.

Unfortunately, throughout all this, I saw the quiet girl Snow look down guiltily when the subject of Vlad was broached.

I really don't want to think to deeply on that.

"GIRLS! WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THERE? DOES IT TAKE THAT LONG TO GET READY TO RUN FOR ONLY 10 MINUTES?" Enter Mr. Grason, the rabid pitbull-human thing intent on making everyone cross country runners. The boys were already behind him, smirking as the girls scuttled out of the change rooms. That was when my mouth took over, my brain still downloading what happened 2 minutes ago.

"We were actually planning your imminent assassination, involving a heavy amount of explosives and arsenic. While we were at it, we decided to do the whole world domination thing, too. With tanks. And bazookas. And mind control. You don't mind, do you?" I gasped and slapped my hands over my mouth as everyone started to snicker and Mr. Grason turned an unhealthy shade of purple. Oh, god, is having and aneurysm? Three veins started to throb in his forhead. How does one treat this? Should 911 be contacted? Will I be responsible for a mans death?

"5 EXTRA MINUTES OF RUNNING FOR ALL OF YOU, THANKS TO LITTLE MISS SMARTIES COMMENT! YOU DON'T SEEM TO APRECIATE HOW IMPORTANT GYM CLASS IS! YOU SNOT NOSED LITTLE BRATS!" He seemed to explode as the sonic boom erupted from the bowls of his vocal chords. You know, complete with bulging eyes, tendons stretching across his neck, spittle spraying from his lips and landing alarmingly close to Edward's feet. Edward simply looked amused, as if there was a hidden inside joke only he understood, but everyone else shifted their weight from foot to foot, looking mildly petrified. I'm pretty sure a clown could have ran behind Mr. G while playing the guitar backwards to upside down sheet music, setting things on fire and juggling 9 enraged cats and none of us would have stopped staring at the man in front of us. He was breathing hard, strangely akin to a bull, and I had to resist the urge to take out something red and wave it around. He stared around the circle, his eyes filled with a feverish light. "NOW!"

I never saw a group of teenagers start running simultaneously before. Quite an interesting show.

I hate gym class simply because I have to watch myself. It's strange, knowing that if you wanted to, you could run both faster and for longer than, most probably, a professional. I jogged slowly even for me, though, letting Meredith run beside me. I almost felt pity as her ragged breathing became louder and louder. Gott in Himmel, Joseph was right about one thing. Humans really were weak-ish.

"So, Merrykins, are you, errr, going explain anything? Mainly the 'Stephenie is secretly a floozy' comment and the lack of _ignorer-vousing_ me?" I smiled at her, the push-and-pull, bunch-and-stretch and slow burn of muscles and tendons in my legs making me want to giggle and glomp something. Preferably Vlad. But since Snow's apparently doing that, I'd have to settle for Lily. Meredith struggled for some oxygen before attempting to answer me.

"It's just…._gasp_…you're nice…Aiza…_wheeze_…and I've…been a bitch…_chokeywheezything…_and I'd like to be friends…._pant_…besides…you've had no more luck than me…_raspygasp…_in catching Vlad." She smiled slightly before beginning to wheeze again. Good Lord, does she need a breather? I smiled at her, a warm, fuzzyish feeling creeping up on me.

"Thanks, Meredith. Same here. But you might want to slow down a bit, you know, get that air into those lungs?" I placed my hand on her shoulder, and she nodded slightly before falling behind. I listened to the pounding of my footsteps for a while before I noticed Mr. G staring at me like I just grew wings and shot rainbows out my butt. Oh, right. I need to slow down every once in a while. I let myself slow down and I felt someone come up behind me. Edward whispered into my ear, his breath on my neck making me shiver like Trekkie at an all week convention.

"I'm going to out lap you." He moved ahead of me, and Mr. G turned his gaze onto Edward. Scratch what Joseph said. Not all humans are weakish. I fell back even more until I was running side by side with Snow. We were in a part of the track that was rather isolated, and that was probably when someone up in the sky decided that he was extremely pissed at me. Snow turned a rather unhealthy looking colour of grey and stumbled, looking rather fatigued.

"Oh, Sweet Jesus, are you alright?" I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, leading her into the shade as she began to breathe weird and close her eyes slightly. She leaned against the wall with a small moan.

"He took too much…" She seemed to whisper to herself. Wow, so now Snow was crazy? That explained that little comment perfectly. Besides, it was better than the only other explanation I could think of. After all, after 3 years, why would Joseph bother me now?

"Err, do you have asthma? Should I be calling someone?" Quite an idiotic question on my part. Not that my good marks in Biology are anything to brag about, but I'm pretty sure grey skin and gasping breaths weren't two of the major signs of tip-top health.

"No! I'm fine!" she seemed to freak out, and a semi-terrible thought dawned on me.

"Is this condition the repercussion of drug use?" She almost seemed to laugh slightly.

"Not the regular kind…" And than Snow blacked out. Just like that.

"Ack! Oh, my, God! Wake up!" I began poking her spastically.

"She'll be fine. Minor blood loss. Nothing lethal." A voice made me look up. A man was standing deeper in the shade than we were, looking mildly amused. He had long black hair, red eyes and scars started at the top of his neck and disappeared into his shirt. My awesome kick-ass psychic alarms went off as soon as I saw him. There were all the signs I've been dreading to see for so long. A strange ballerina predator-typey grace that seemed to radiate from him and his eyes were looking at Snow the same way I saw fat people look at Big Macs.

He's a vampire.

"Who the hell are you?" My voice took on the tone Joseph had somehow trained me to use when facing vampires. Cold, dismissive and filled with a confidence that they'd do what I'd want. Something I really wasn't feeling. I moved Snow behind me and crouched low, letting my fangs, hidden by my lips, lengthen. Could I wake Snow up and convince her to run? I looked back and resisted the urge to kick her. She chose such a great moment to take a trip to Bobo Land. The vampire laughed slightly. He edged away from the sunlight creeping into shadows, something I noticed with interest. Maybe I could push him in the light, grab Snow, and run for the hills. The vampire laughed again, probably guessing my thoughts.

"Aiza, my dear, it's about time we meet." He had a cordial look on his face he spoke, only his voice betraying slight menace.

"My name is Ignatius."

End Notes: BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING! One, what Stephanie said is not my opinion is stupid and you shouldn't do it. Two, I know the COVT are all pretty much PG, but it's high school, and that's not PG, and we've all heard those comments. Besides, Vlad and everyone else are growing up and when boys and girls grow up, that's some of the conversations they have. My point is, I'm pretty sure that, even though it's stupid, there will be those types of people in any high school, Bathory being no different. Oh, and isn't that cliffy GREAT?! *evil snicker*


	12. Jarha, or Joseph, or Whatever

Stuff: Bwahaha! I felt so good with my brilliant cliffie. Here is the next part to Ignatius coming. I'm going to try to update regularly. Like, every 7-9 days. If that doesn't happen, someone send me a pissed off pm to kick my butt. Mmkay?

Chapter 12

"My name is Ignatius." The tone in which he said this sounded like I should know exactly who he is and at the sound of his name be quaking in my ugly navy sports-y type shorts. Unfortunately, I had no clue.

"That's…great. Why are you here?" Now my tone was aloof, condescending, the kind that Joseph always used when speaking to anyone but me. It probably pissed him off, judging from his eyes narrowing. Oh, Sweet Jesus, why do these types of things always happen to me and only me? I bet no one else has had crazy psycho vampires after their sorry butts.

"It doesn't concern you yet. But it will." He glanced at Snow, peacefully snoring and drooling on the pavement, the fat-man-at-McDonald's look on his face again. Great. Now the psycho vampire wants to eat my sanity-challenged class mate. I shifted my weight slightly. Maybe, with my awesome, kick-ass vampire fighting skills, I could push him into the buttery, lovely, burning, painful sunlight.

Where he could burn and die in painful fits of fiery agony.

Bad imagery.

I coughed slightly and sifted my weight, waiting for him to do that burst-into-action thingy that bad guys always do in movies after they're done staring at the lovely, wonderful, self-sacrificing heroine. He didn't. And I didn't do the whole good-guy-basically-explodes-in-a-fit-of-justice-bringing-and-throws-pointy-things-at-the-bad-guy thing either. My vampire-ass-whipping style is a little classier.

I let my mind spread, until-in poetic form- my awesome psychicness was stretched like a too-tight piano string, ready to vibrate in a hugely loud manor at the slightest bit of dust. In non-Shakespearean terms, I would have split second vision of what Mr. Scary-Vampire-Thing-Named-Ignatius would do before he actually did it.

Or maybe I could use my superpowers and he could just run away disturbed.

Hmm, interesting technique.

I'll have to think about it.

There was a yank underneath my belly button, and I felt my muscles lock before I was looking at myself standing off to Ignatius like an awesome Matrix character, and Ignatius staring at me. It was black and white-ish as I took a step forward, not feeling the pavement beneath me and not making any noise. Ignatius went into that annoying superfast vampire speed as he flashed towards my back, snarling like a rabid Doberman as he reached for Snow. A yank behind my belly button and I was back in my body, staring at Ignatius again.

I turned around and moved to the side quickly, throwing up my forearms. Ignatius's blows made my entire body jar unpleasantly and I gasped slightly. He snarled again, and there was another vision. He would kick me in the ribs and hook his legs under my knees, bringing me down. I skipped out of the way, flashing behind him and aiming a roundhouse kick at his head. Gott in Himmel, I was fighting rather dirtily. Flashes of visions went behind my eyelids, confusing me.

Oh, god dammit.

Now Ignatius can't make up his mind.

Or is he doing it on purpose?!

Bastard.

I gasped as he slammed me against the wall of the school. This would feel dirty if it wasn't for the fact that he was cursing in that weirdy vampire language Joseph never taught me. Abruptly, Ignatius began muttering in English.

"He said not to kill the Pravus, he never said anything about not hurting it…" He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a rather tiny, non-threatening looking knife. But I knew how dangerous psychopaths could be with pointy things. I had one in my house once a month.

"Ack! Let's think about this, shall we?! We wouldn't want you to do anything you regret! You may have some mistakes, but I can see in your eyes that you're not a killer!" At this point, I was copying some crap cops show when the innocent virgin convinced the serial killer not to hurt her. The look on Vampy's showed that he was, in fact, a killer, and that there was no way that he'd regret what he was going to do to me. I looked at Snow.

'_Run, crazy goth girl! Run for the HILLS! RUN! RUUUUN! Well, wake up first, but then RUUUN!'_ I was hoping I would awake some dormant psychic powers to get Snow out of this little kershnuffle unscathed, but apparently I didn't need to.

Ignatius's eyes widened and he let out a yell of pain. The sunlight had reached his legs and he let me fall on my butt as he ran like a madman to the shadows, where the lovely UVA UVB rays couldn't give him skin cancer on steroids.

Man, he really needed a breath mint.

I was hyperventilating slightly as I began to poke Snow again. She woke up like I just electrocuted her, spazzing and smacking my face with her hand. Delightful.

"Oh, my, God, I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened to me there!" She leaned back against the wall next to me and noticed my strange gasping breaths. "Hey, did anything happen? You look tired."

"Err…..you know what? Nothing happened. I'm just tired like you. Speaking of which, try Twinkies. They're the food of the gods. Zeus eats them for breakfast." She laughed. "I'm so not kidding."

That's when Edward ran around the corner, looking like the hero of a really bad spy movie.

A hero in gym shorts.

"Hey, you guys alright?" He ran towards us, the Mad Hatter smile in place. He helped us both up, listening to us covering each other's butts. I didn't want the nurse to check me out of the simple fact that I'm not 100% human, and Snow didn't want anyone to find out about her mysterious illness. Somehow, there was an unspoken agreement that we wouldn't speak of what happened, and I was alright with that.

The only thing that pissed me off was the fact that the spy hero only turned up after the bad guy made his exit, returning to the evil headquarters.

What kind of hero is that?

* * *

Wait, didn't Vlad call himself the Pravus?

Whatever the hell that is.

* * *

Otis's POV

I sighed, a loud sound in the silence of the dark streets of Stokerton, already taken my fill of blood. Vladimir was acting more and more troubling, like the forceful enslaver he was prophesized to be. It worried me. I still remembered the London president's words, echoing in my mind every time I looked at Vladimir snarling, ripping through blood bags as if he wished the plastic were skin…

"_Vladimir Tod is a dangerous variable. Should he show signs of…rebellion against Elysia, it will be your job to…eliminate the variables."_

"_No! I could never-!"_

"_If you do not, Otis, others will, and they will not be kind. He will be begging for the end before it happens, were it anyone but you. Besides, you get a benefit. You make sure the Pravus does not come to power, and your record will be cleaned. It will be as if these past couple years would have never happened. We'll ever throw in that human woman as a benefit."_

"_I-I couldn't."_

"_Simply think about it. The boy shows no signs of it now, does he? Perhaps he never will."_

That small benefit of doubt was slowly disappearing. Vlad was amassing telepathic power at an alarming rate, slowly becoming more powerful than even Vikas predicted. His words were coming out sharper, with a tone that demanded to be followed.

I loved that boy beyond a shadow of a doubt, and would sacrifice myself for him in a moment, but I was slowly growing more fearful of him. Even his daily expressions…

He was changing, and in a way that made everyone uneasy.

More so, because of the Cairo murder, whispers were growing. Whispers about a vampire named Jarha, though he had many pseudonyms. Supposedly reborn around the time of King Tutankhamen, he rejected Elysia, learning powerful and dangerous glyphs and techniques on how to develop a vampire's raw power, glyphs and techniques dated before vampires had joined and formed Elysia. They were made for wars, when vampires would fight against one another in the earliest days of this world.

He was supposedly destroyed years ago, but now the whispers were saying that he was back, more powerful and angrier than ever. And since his goal was well matched to the Pravus prophecy…

My ultimate fear was that he would find a way to seduce Vlad to his side of the battlefield. Because, with vampires going off the grid and leaders turning up slaughters days later, it seemed sides were forming, a line being drawn into the unmarked grounds of vampire society.

And Vlad was the ultimate weapon for both of those sides.

"Otis, wipe the gloom from your face! I found the troublesome vampire in Bathory!" Vikas's voice boomed through the night. I turned, and Vikas, still stubbornly dressed in his furs, was holding a wriggly figure in his large arms. The figure snarled and tried to bite him. "Now, now, little one, be kind."

"Vikas…"

"Yes, yes, of course." He closed his eyes for a moment, and the figure went still, a victim to Vikas's mind control. He was a boy that looked around 17, with wavy dark hair and green eyes the colour of jewels.

"Look, just let me go! I'm sorry, I don't want to kill anyone, I'm just so _hungry_." His eyes were wide, fearful. The look of a young vampire being caught in something he couldn't be doing.

"We don't want to hurt you." My voice was calm, and I gestured for Vikas to release him, both body and mind. I walked towards him. "What happened that made you so hungry?" He screwed up his face, still looking scared.

"I don't know! I…there was this guy, and he bit me, oh, god, it hurt, and then next thing you know, I wake up and I'm a freaking son of Dracula!" He put his arms around himself. I was shocked.

"The man…didn't stay with you?" Most times, vampires made illegal vampires for lovers, marking them ad theirs as soon as the change was done; to leave a newborn alone around humans was like leaving a hungry wolf in a flock of sheep.

"No, he didn't, you asshole! If he did, I'd be with him! I-I nearly killed my _mom_. For God's sake, I had to leave! Now I'm here, and, damnit, everyone tastes so good. But I can't stop. I try, but I can't. Please, please don't kill me!" The newborn was flicking his eyes between me and Vikas, desperation and hunger in his eyes.

"We're not going to kill you." I reached out and he flinched, but relaxed when all I did was check the insides of his wrists. Unmarked. I looked to Vikas. Was Jarha-if indeed he was alive- making unmarked vampires to create his own army? Why then, would he leave this one to his own devices?

It didn't matter at the moment. I could give this young one the gift of Elysia. I lifted one of his wrists to my mouth, unthinking.

"What the hell are you _doing_?" The newborn yanked his wrist away.

"I am giving you your Elysian mark. You will thank me for it once you have it." He stumbled back. I forgot to be slow, explain what all this was. He was like a skittish colt.

"No way in _hell_! Last time someone bit me, I became a damn _vampire_!" His eyes were wild, panicked. The eyes of a trapped animal. Vikas reached out to his touch his shoulder, and the newborn reeled back. "Don't _touch_ me!" Raw, uncontrolled telepathic power exploded from the boy, choking me and scraping the inside of my skull. Red washed over my vision. When it cleared, I saw Vikas panting hard. The newborn was gone. I sighed again as I met Vikas's eyes.

Things had just become a lot more complicated.

Edward's POV

I ran back to my crappy flat from Stokerton. Well, apparently I had gotten those damned vampires attention with my minor killing spree. I narrowed my eyes. Getting caught was a rookie mistake. I was distracted by something else, let myself slip up…

Speaking of that, I was going to tear Ignatius another one for touching Aiza.

Fury bubbled up in me. I hated to admit it, but I was letting myself get way to emotionally close to this girl. Charlotte's face flashed behind my eyelids, and guilt washed through me. Aiza could not replace her. Aiza was going to die, just like Charlotte, if Joseph has his way. That sent a bolt of pain through me, but I shoved it away. Just keep yourself emotionless, never get too attached…it hurts less.

The last dissonant chords of 'Check my Brain'-a strangely fitting song-were filtering through the air as I walked in. There was a figure on the couch, and as I got close, it began to clap slowly.

"Even though you got caught, I won't punish you. You covered well, Edward. _I don't want to kill anyone, I'm just so hungry. I-I almost killed my mom!"_ The voice was harsh, mocking, and ended in a laugh. I grit my teeth and repressed a snarl.

"Joseph."

End Notes: This is definitely not the best chapter, but it beefs up the story a bit more. Do you like the semi-cliffie ending? I do. The next chapter will be really short, but the chapter after that will be long. So, tell me what you think, predictions, how I can make it better…ect. with a review!


	13. History has a Bitchy Way of Repeating

Stuff: So we come in contact with Joseph/Jarha at last…ish. I guess. I don't know. Anyhow, poll please. Are we interested in Vlad/Aiza or Edward/Aiza? It could go down both ways. Oh, and the sneak peak from chapter 7 is coming up soon!

Chapter 13

Edward's POV

I snarled out his name, and he smiled slightly. It always unnerved me, how quickly his moods would change. It was part of the reason he was so dangerous. There was no way to predict what he would do.

"Now, now, Edward, don't be mean." His smile was charming, his eyes inviting. A cat being kind to a mouse.

And then he ripped into my mind, creating an illusion of pain that felt all too real.

I gasped and fell to the floor, writhing pathetically. A string of words had started up in my mind, Joseph's voice, the same voice that demanded a quiet respect, filled my mind.

_Weak. Useless. Pathetic. Self loathing, needy coward always in need of a leader to take the big decisions out of your hands. Your entire family died because of you. Charlotte died because of you._

Now it was flashes of memory sparking behind my eyelids. My home in Italy, my aristocratic, loving family, opening its doors to those in need. Charlotte walking through those doors. The time spent with her, spent with my annoying little brother. The group of vampires moving through the halls of my house, murdering my family in their beds. The vampire whose name I never knew, looking me over like I was nothing more than a nightwalker. Her smile, her complement. '_It would be a pity to kill such a pretty little boy, wouldn't it?' _Charlotte's eyes darkening with death, bite marks on her neck-my bite marks, I killed her-her voice whispering forgiveness, even as I swallowed the sweet crimson.

_And now Aiza's going to die because of you. Dear, sweet, innocent, naïve Aiza. How does it feel, does it sting, knowing that she'll die cursing you name?_

I tried to deny it, tried to deny the pain that flashed through me-different that the fake burning Joseph was inflicting on me-as I thought of that. Keep yourself distant; don't let emotions get involved, it'll hurt less when it gets taken away…

I screwed up horribly on that point. I gagged as Joseph sent a fresh wave of pain through my body, bile burning the back of my throat. Now Charlotte and Aiza were being forcibly compared in my mind.

They looked nothing alike, they never could, and they were-on the surface-nothing alike. Charlotte was never out spoken, rather shy, and always thought out her responses. Aiza had trouble with thinking before she spoke; used force to get her way, and all of her emotions seemed to have the same reaction lit matches had to gasoline. Flaring up violently.

But they were accepting of things others weren't, open ended and able to forgive.

And I would be the one to cause Aiza's death, just like Charlotte.

History has a bitchy way of repeating itself.

Joseph's POV (so hard to do…TT_TT)

I released Edward and watched as his body went slack, breathing in dust from the carpet. He crawled towards the trash bin and began puking violently into it. He looked pathetic, hunched over and shaking and sweating as he puked.

Grim satisfaction surged through me.

He was so weak, the poster boy of Elysia. Unthinking. Following the stronger force like an idiotic sheep.

I pulled back my lips in a grimace. He did have such useful power, though, and it would make the destruction of Elysia go faster in that way. I was still scanning through his mind lightly when I caught on to his feelings. Such pain at the thought of the hybrid bitch dying…

Well, I would make sure he would join her soon after the deed was done, and they could burn in hell together.

I felt no guilt at these thoughts, but instead started thinking towards the future. How I would build a paradise out of rubble of this world for both the humans and those of my kind I deemed worthy, how there would be happiness, no ill thoughts…no pain of losing the person closest to you.

The thought of my little brothers body being displayed in a museum where humans and vampires alike could stare at it made my blood boil with fury. Both at the poor humans being mislead and misinformed, but mostly at the vampires. They had a chance to save him, to make sure he didn't die…

But they let him rot in his own sickbed, not even telling me how I could change him myself. I learned, later, but too late to save him.

And now he was the most famous mummy, people from all over the globe going to gawk at his remains.

How undignified.

My mind got pulled back to the present as Edward choked out some rather colourful words.

"B-bastard! You just said that you weren't going to punish me!" He gasped those words out, pushing some hair from his forehead and he slumped against a wall.

"Did I now?" I rarely paid attention to what I said to those serving me. I merely said words I knew would calm them, get them to trust me. It never worked on Edward, though. Pity. I ran the past couple seconds through my head and realized that I had, indeed, told him that I was going to refrain from punishing him. I knelt behind him and tugged his shoulders so that his body was leaning against mine. "But that wasn't for punishment. It was merely for my amusement."

I let out a wave of telekinetic energy, calming his body, getting rid of the aftershocks of pain. He slumped against me, trying to fight against the lethargy I placed upon him.

"Shh, don't fight it…perhaps I may think it over some more. Perhaps Aiza will not be the one to die. Perhaps it will be the other one." In his semiconscious, dazed state-the only time he trusted my words-they sounded wonderful.

"Promise?" His green eyes cracked open and he sounded like a small child looking for comfort. I played my part well.

"Of course." I ran my fingers through his hair again and his eyes fluttered once more before he fell into an induced sleep. Ah, his green eyes reminded me so much of my little brother's. A jewel green.

I wanted to rip them out and wear them as jewelry.

I lifted his body and dumped it onto a bed; already thinking over my plans for Ignatius. The Stokerton Council would have to be dealt with soon, as well as Vladimir Tod.

A small wisp of unease started through me as I thought of him. He was strong, and a hybrid as well. Perhaps I was wrong in my calculations?

I shook my head. The Cray girl had to play some part throughout all this. It would not be possible, if she did not. I would need her; she had unwittingly proven that to me again and again. But perhaps I would need the Tod boy as well.

I sighed. I would need to find Aiza's father again. He would be the only one with complete knowledge about the prophecy. Not only that, he would make a strong ally in the war that was soon to come.

A war that I will win.

I laughed slightly as I exited the apartment. I had no doubts on what was to come.

I will be the god of the new world.

End Notes: Minor change of plans. This chapter is short, next chapter is short, and then the next one will be super long and wonderful. BTW, what do you think of Joseph's POV? I worked really hard on a psychopathic, god-complex type thing, and I thing I may have failed miserably. But do tell me what you think,


	14. The Big Silver Button

Stuff: This chapter is just fun for me. Just because. Kind of. Ish. Yayness. Really, I must go into a heartfelt speech for all the reviews I've gotten. Honestly, I love you all. I do. Honestly. Even if you don't review and just read, you still make me happy. Har har.

Chapter 14

Pravus. Pravus. Pravusy Pravus Pravus. When you say that again and again, it starts to sound like someone saying please in a really bad accent. Try it. PravusPravusPravusPravus.

See what I mean?

Whatever.

"Aiza, baby, do you think I should go for the purple and black striped tights or the _pink_ and black striped tights? Cuz, you know, I have purple eye make up, which would _match_ the tights, but I have black and grey eyeshadow, which would look good with the pink tights…are you lisenting?"

I had, up till then, been muttering Pravus again and again and again while lying down on Lily's pink covered bed and squishing one of Lily's stuffed animals in between my boobs in a demented, strangling hug as Lily tried to decide what she'd wear on the date she was going on with Andrew.

Yes, I do hear scandalized gasps and horrified moans in the back of my head every single time I contemplate this.

Andrew and Lily. Lily and Andrew. As a couple.

I wonder if their child's name will be Andly. You know, Andrew and Lily. Together. Like chocolate and peanut butter. Reese's cups. Reese's Cups cereal. With milk. Andly.

What the hell's the Pravus?!?!?!

My brains going to explode.

"Aiza?"

"Ack! What?! Is the sky falling?! Is the Apocalypse starting?! Grab the canned food and head to the basement! I'll get the AK-47's!" I twitched and spazzed into and upright position, holding the stuffed animal out as a weapon, ready to defend Lily against asteroids and evil things. Like vampires. And a Pravus.

It all leads back to that, doesn't it?

"No…I just want to know what to wear…Aiza, put Mr. Snuggles down, you're hurting him."

Well, that's anti-climatic.

"Oh. If you have nothing to wear, will you not go?" I had already pulled out all the other stops on destroying the date. Bribery. Reverse psychology. Threats against the welfare of her boobs. I had ever sat on Andrew for about 2 hours as I kept slapping him and poking him, trying to get him to cancel. It didn't work. Damn Playboys. She twisted her glitter encrusted hair into another style.

"No. I'd just go tightless." I looked critically at her dark denim skirt, which was about 2 inches long.

"Go with the purple." She giggled and bent down to get them, which showed me her delightfully decorated sunny underpants. After struggling to get them on, she turned back to the mirror and began to decorate her face with the woman's modern war paint.

"So, errr, why did you stomp over Greg's heart with stiletto boots?" Lily gave me the same look I'm sure village idiots get all the time.

"_Because_, Aiza, he clearly wasn't getting me anywhere in my life." Wow, that was eerily responsible, mature and grown-up, especially coming from Lily.

"So now you're going on a date to find someone who will?" Hopefully, she had forgotten about Henry and had moved on from the playboy whose skills could rival Andrew's. Lily always went for those types.

"No, I'm going on a date that will further my progress in chasing down Henry."

Well, I guess she hasn't forgotten.

"Errr….I'm having difficulty understanding your logic. Why is it so vitally important that you get Henry?" Once again, I was regarded like an idiot as she sighed dramatically and flopped next to me on the pink bedspread.

"Because he caught my attention. He would have totally asked me out if he hadn't had a girlfriend. So now I have to have him, if it costs me time, money, makeup, blood, sweat and tears. I'm going to get him, even if it's just to break up with him."

"What about Andrew?"

"Please, he goes through girls like you go through Twinkies. He isn't going to miss me."

"So you're going to get with him only to show him rejection the same way he's shown many girls?"

"Exactly."

Oddly, this makes some twisted sense in my mind, mixed with a strange sense of poetic justice.

It must be the estrogen factor.

At this point, she stood and continued putting makeup on. Her bedroom door opened, and as I had taken up the 'Pravus' chant again, I leaped like a leaping banana in front of Lily, like her own personal vampire shield, my weapon at the ready.

"Halt, fiend!!"

And then I chucked Mr. Snuggles at Jared's head. It bounced of his forehead, the surprised on his face wrinkling it slightly.

"…fiend?" Jared drew the word out slowly, his voice confused.

"Errr…" We were staring at each other now, both of our faces confused.

"Whatever!" Lily came between us, waving her hands in a dismissing manner. "What is it, Jared?" He still looked confused, but he answered none the less.

"Your date's here. In the kitchen." He went back downstairs, presumably to give the traditional 'Hurt her physically, emotionally or mentally and I will hunt you down like an animal before ripping off your balls, frying them, putting them on pop-tarts and making you eat them. After that, since it would have been filmed, I will strap you to a chair and proceed to make you re-watch your castration and your display of cannibalism again and again and again.' speech that we all know so well. It's all a joke, coming from Jared, since he couldn't hurt anyone, but as he would be incapable of it, I would be the one to perform the aforementioned tasks. With sadistic pleasure.

"Oh, god. How do I look?" I regarded her from a mild distance. She had copied the goth-lolita look, and although it looked good on her, I preferred her in her own look of girly timelessness. But as it is Andrew she is exiting with, I suppose sacrifices must be made.

"Bodacious…I guess." Lily giggled, assuming this to be a complement. She skipped downstairs and I could hear the soundtrack of her exiting on a date and Jared going to weep and wail over his girls growing up before watching the football game with a beer.

I sighed and moved to the study, turning on the computer. I supposed there was only one way I could find out what the Pravus was. I had to use the mystical, magical place of great power and knowledge.

Google.

Most of the stuff was pretty useless; a band had a song named Pravus(the band, judging from the lyrics, should be drowned out of pity to end their depressing miserable lives), the Latin definition was wicked/depraved/evil, there were a couple Myspace groups, some woodworking shop in Arizona had that name and whoop-dee-doo-party-streamers, there was even an online role playing game under the name Pravus Mortis, currently saying goodbye to some fantastically good player. Not very much I could sufficiently say was linked to Vlad, despite how cool I think it would be if he was a magical warrior elf fighting a war on the eastern edge of the Forest of Dreams.

Oh, yeah.

Legolas has nothing on Vladicus, the elvin prince of the Realm of Shadowing Dreams.

Shut up, brain.

How sad. Google may help you cheat your way through projects by copying and pasting, but when it comes to anything important, it's an epic fail.

So now all I have to go on is that the Pravus-whatever that may be- and vampy type things are connected in some strange, strange way.

Rawr.

* * *

Because of Joseph & Co, few truly horrifying things can make me freeze. Evil vampire showing up at my school, ready to devour my sanity-challenged classmate? No problem. Out comes the ass kicking face. Strangely adorable hot man-boy-thing I just maybe might have a mild attraction to maybe being connected to said evil vampire? Psshaw. Put on my detective face. Two sparkly, gay boys breaking into my house and kidnapping me to take me to the mall-which happens to be a half hour away- to shop for 'a totally mind blowing costume'?

Well, that's when I curl into the fetal position and hide in the corner.

Which is what I happen to be doing.

In a car.

Sprat swerves violently and munches on a pixie stick as Jack gasps in horror and hugs me in my curled up position in the backseat. Jack has so kindly sat next to me for the car ride to the mall, even though on the way to my house he was probably in the passenger seat feeling Sprat up as he drove.

Really, I don't know why they don't just exit the closet already.

"What the hell, Sprat?!" Jack, in all of his skinny-jeaned, metallic-black-eyelinered, hair-waxed glory, leans over to the front seat when we hit a red light. "Cool the road rage! If you get us killed, I'm never kissing you again!"

Thank you, Jack, for showing the world that not all Asians are geniuses. It makes me think that there's hope for America yet.

Sprat just laughs at this comment and slams the gas pedal, sending Jackie crashing into the backseat of his ancient 1986 Ford Mustang, cussing like a sailor.

"Why am I here again?" I ask Jack after he's done insulting Sprat's mother. He gave me the same look Lily gave me after I asked her a question, his creepily large almond eyes getting wide in their rings of black.

"You, my darling, are here so we can find a costume that will make Vlad drool like a drunken idiot!" Sprat whooped in the front, thrusting his pixie stick in the air like a toast to Jack's words.

"Err, you guys do know I'm going with Ari Johnson?" Sprat snorted and tossed me a look over his shoulder.

"Watch the road!" Both myself and Jack shrieked this loudly and Sprat laughed again, turning his attention back to the road.

"Babe, you may be entering with Ari, but that doesn't mean you'll be leaving with him!" He smiled. "Besides, Vlad's ass is a lot cuter." Jack made a sound of protest. "But it's not nearly as cute as yours." Jack smiled and leaned back, pleased. I began mentally comparing Jack's ass and Vlad's ass, the Pravus thing forgotten momentarily.

We entered the malls parking lot in a squeal of tires, sliding into a space without killing anyone, surprisingly. I was shuffled out by Jack as he looked over the car. He bit his lip piercing as he made a passing coment.

"Dude, you have such a shitbox car." Jack slipped his hand into mine, and Sprat came up to my other side, holding my other hand.

"You're just jealous I have a car. Speaking of which, Aiza, when are you getting your license here?" I thought back to when I first moved here. I already knew how to drive; strangely, just I never got a license.

"Erm, January, I think. Why are you guys manacling me?" I tugged lightly on my arms.

"Because we know you dislike shopping, so in order to keep you from running away and going _Grand Theft Auto_ on our asses to get away, we are restraining you." Sprat said amusement in his tone.

How thoughtful.

"Do I really get no choice in this?"

They answered at the same time.

"No."

* * *

Shopping must have been invented in the seventh circle of hell. At least shopping with Sprat and Jack. We had finally gathered what they deemed 'an acceptable outfit' for Halloween, and were now sitting at some cheap plastic food court table. I had multiple bags surrounding me, and as I pierced my Greek salad with a spork, I decided it was best to put my detective face back on.

"Errr…Sprat, Jack, have you ever noticed anything weird about Vladicus?" They both gave me looks that I translated into _Have you not seen the guy?_

"Babe, first of all, I'm just going to completely ignore the Vladicus thing, as if I dwell too hard on understanding your brain, mine will implode, and second, he's Vlad. No shit I've noticed something weird about him." Sprat answered this half-heartedly, paying more attention to Jack's face than he was to my question.

"I kind of have to agree. But sometimes he gives people looks, and not just 'Fuck off and die, bitches' looks, but 'Oh my fucking God, I'm going to freaking eat you, because I'm starving and regular food won't satisfy me' looks, and he stares at you like you just told him you could re-incarnate his parents while roasting Nelly over a spitfire. You know, half oh-my-this-is-great, half holy-crap-this-is-horrifying-I-have-to-get-away." Jack was paying more attention to his poutine than he was to me, but he did give me a really big mindfuck I wasn't going to try to understand until I had 12 hours of sleep, comfortable pajamas, and Twinkies. So I turned a blind eye and took the free entertainment Sprat and Jack was providing me with.

Sprat was blowing air down Jack's neck, making his shoulders shoot up to his ears and a bush to appear on his face. Sprat grinned wickedly at me and waggled his recently pierced eyebrow at me as he brushed his lips against Jack's ear. Jack stood up quickly and grabbed Sprat's hand.

"Um, Aiza, we have to-um, got to-just, I mean-" I sighed dramatically.

"You have to go find a secluded bench to make out on?" Jack nodded and towed Sprat off, who was laughing wildly. A small pang of jealousy started in my chest, like one of those really crappily written romance novels. Jack had Sprat who had Jack so they could have a merry happy ending, and Kristoff had October, and they could have a happy ending, I wasn't sure who Lily had anymore-it changed a lot-so she could have a happy ending if she chose it.

And then there was me.

All alone.

All by myself.

Without a penile thinker to kiss and huggle.

But really, apparently penile thinkers didn't want to kiss me, if the past is anything to go by.

Which is just as sad.

And I can't even figure out what the Pravus is.

Poo.

It looks like I will be the insane cat lady who lives by herself with 40 persians, a banjo and milk in china cups, who yells at small children to get off her lawn.

Only now I'll also be obsessed with the Pravus as well as cats.

How sad.

As I was contemplating my sad, sad future, I saw someone I recognized.

"Edward! How art thou?!" Which, in retrospect, was a stupid question. It was clear how he felt from how he looked. And he looked like shit. Not 'fever and virus' shittyness, I'm talking about 'just went through drug withdrawal and torture' shittyness. "Did you just go cold turkey for crack?" I slid over and patted the seat next to me on the pleather bench. He stared in astonishment and didn't sit.

"If it looks that way, shouldn't you not invite me to sit? I might-I might get you addicted." His eyes were bright, purple bags underneath them. "You might get hurt." He looked feverish when he said this.

Well, he's not being confuzzling at all.

"Err….You're not going to hurt me, Eddie-darling. I can't really imagine you hurting anyone. Sorry if that bruises your manhood." Well, I could imagine hurting someone, but only a bad guy. He seemed too much like a tortured-soul-good-guy-type.

You know what I'm talking about.

Edward laughed slightly-a broken sound-and he collapsed next to me, his hands falling onto my shoulders and his face falling to my shoulder.

Oh, good God, he's high, isn't he?

"Oh, God, Aiza, if only that were true…" I started to examine the insides of his elbows. Nothing. He must have snorted something, then. What does one do in a situation like this? Does one call the authorities? Or does one disregard it? "Aiza…I swear to God I'll do everything in my power to make sure you don't get hurt. I'll-I'll kill-I'll _die _before I let you get hurt."

You know what; I think I'm going to go with the whole disregard it plan. I quite sure that if I were to alert the authorities, they'd probably lock Eddie darling in the loony bin.

And I thought I was bat-shit insane.

At the same time, it's nice to know that someone-despite a high someone-would kill and die before they let me get hurt. Fills me with the warm fuzzies.

Warm fuzzies. Fur. Wolves. Werewolves. Vampires. Romeo and Juliet. English project.

"CRAP IN A HAT!!!!" I leaped up like a leaping banana and started to run towards the nearest secluded bench, leaving a poor, high Edward looking confused behind me. I skidded around the corner and threw one of my newly bought high heels at the kissing all-male couple in the corner. Sprat and Jack jumped apart like I was that creepy stalker Eddie Poe, ready to snap pictures and post them in the school pictures.

…Whatever.

"What the hell, Aiza!" Jack looked ready to kill.

"I was supposed to go to Vladdie's and film that scene type thing for English!!! Aw, crap! I'm late! Because of me Vlad will go insane wondering where I am, he'll go on a killing spree and the streets will run red with blood! And then, Russia, us and Pakistan will start a war with nukes! And we'll blow our heads off, some virus will start, the sun will explode and everyone will DIE!!!!" Jack and Sprat remained immobile, staring at me in a slightly dazed expression as I raised my arms and my shoulders hunched up. "WE HAVE TO GO TO VLAD'S HOUSE! NOW!!!!"

And then we leaped into action like the Power Rangers.

* * *

Vikas's POV (just for you, veVeon, JUST FOR YOU!! *eye twitches*)

Vladimir checked the clock again, his brow wrinkled in confusion. I shifted slightly, the furs making me uncomfortably hot. But surely, despite what Otis has said, if I were to take the furs off, it would be much to cold. Vladimir once again checked the clock, and I touched his shoulder.

"What troubles you, Mahlyenki Dyavol?" He jumped, startled, and glanced at me.

"It's just…Aiza should have been here already. We're doing a project in English, and we're supposed to be filming a scene today, and she's not here yet. I'm just being paranoid." I nodded to signify that I understood, though I was still working out what he said. English was a language, was it not? Why was he addressing it like something different? And filming…what did he mean by that? I was puzzled, though much of Mahlyenki Dyavol's life puzzled me. One was why he would slaughter what was called 'animated people' in a 'video game' on a 'television screen' with his drudge, when he could simply exit the house and slaughter people for amusement in real life. With his hands and fangs, at that, not using guns. Another was 'movies'. I could not see the draw to watching badly portrayed vampires drink from unhealthy looking skinny women who could not have too much blood in their bony bodies on a 'television screen'.

I sighed. These thoughts merely brought my mind back to other human artifacts that never ceased to bemuse me. The toaster, for one, and the 'internet'. The few computers we had in my village in Serbia were used for banking and information management. I failed to see the point of computers past that. They merely confused the user. I also did not see how one needed a little machine to brown your bread for you when you could do it yourself using the fire…like I said; many things in Mahlyenki Dyavol's life befuddled me.

There was a crash in the front hall way, and Aiza, the object of young Vladimir's affections and over-protective feelings, staggered into the living room, her arms filled with different bags and her eyes wild. I coughed as a memory swallowed my mind before I could stop it.

_Jared Reid moved past us and into the kitchen, where the group consisting of three vampires and 2 humans remained frozen. In the middle of the living room were the two young girls, wearing only the top undergarments and shorts that were cut scandalously short. They were rotating their hips and singing along to a song that I recognized to be called 'Sexy Bitch', although what women and female dogs have in common is beyond me. I looked back towards Vlad, Otis, Henry and Nelly. Perhaps this was common for human maidens to do? The looks on their faces told me differently. Nelly was covering her mouth with her hands and giggling slightly, although the humor was lost on me, and Otis, Henry and Vlad's jaws were close to touching the floor. Both Vlad and Henry's blood were quickly rushing down south, though Otis merely blushed, feeling the chastity that these girls clearly lacked. I turned back to the girls, who had now stopped the music and were regarding us in a very shocked, wide-eyed manner. With no words, they both ran upstairs, blood rushing into their faces. How strange._

"Oh, my goodness gracious world-peace-in-a-box, I'm so sorry I'm late! See, two sparkly gay monstrosities kidnapped me and barbarically forced me to go shopping. It was terrible." She smiled in a mildly psychotic manner, and I shifted away slightly. I found human females to be increasingly terrifying with each new one I meet. They all had minds that seemed to be linked in an eerie manner. I approached Vladimir with my questions regarding them, but he simply laughed. Vladimir smiled for the first time that day and helped put the bags on the floor.

"So I have the script, and it's pretty freaking awesome, and I have costumes, and I have the video camera! So we're golden!" Aiza smiled again as she removed what looked to be a headband with two triangles of black felt attached to it and rather brutally shoved it onto Vladimir's head. "Now you're a werewolf! And I'm"-she reached into the bag again and removed a cheap pair of plastic teeth with unrealistic fangs on it and shoved it into her mouth-"A vampire!" Her voice came out distorted.

Vladimir and I resisted laughing.

"Aw, crap. Otis said he'd be here to film, and I guess he isn't. Vikas, do you think you could film for us?" Vladimir held out what must have been the 'video camera' and arranged it in my hands. "Basically we're doing a scene where vampire Juliet and werewolf Romeo secretly meet in a bar and have a conversation over drinks." He settled back and sat down at a table that Aiza had set up in front of me. Aiza took the place next to him, her fangs looking much more realistic from a distance.

"Okay, you can start filming." They looked at me expectantly. I glanced at the small screen where I saw them captured, the grouping of buttons next to it, the dull plastic bulb that apparently should be pulsing red to signify recording, and then back at their hopeful faces. A distinct sense of helplessness overcame me.

"Vikas, you press the silver button." I glanced at the grouping of buttons. There were a lot of silver ones. "The big one."

"Ah." I pressed down on it, and the bulb began to flash red. Vladimir and Aiza began running over their lines with a practiced ease as I stared in wonderment at the tiny screen. This meant I could watch this scene over again? I must bring one of these 'video cameras' back to Serbia. Half way through, though, the flow of things was disrupted.

"VOLDEMORT'S NIPPLES! I'VE FORGOTTEN THE RUM!" Aiza leaped up from the chair and ran out of the room. In the dazed silence that followed, you could hear her pitter-pattering down the hall way, the door opening, more footsteps, and the door swinging shut.

"…should I continue to film?"

"No. Stop the camera." I glanced at the grouping of buttons and glanced at Vladimir. "Press the big silver button again."

"Ah."

After 10 minutes of silence, the door opened and Aiza ran back into the room.

"Sorry, just, we're supposed to be in a bar, and bars have rum, but we didn't, but I do, well, I didn't, but now I do, so I thought that-"

"Let's just finish filming."

"Okay." They sat back down at the table and looked at me again. I looked at the grouping of buttons again and looked at them.

"Vikas, the big silver button."

"Ah."

End Notes: This was supposed to be a short chapter. *falls over* veVeon, I hope you're happy. I HOPE you're HAPPY!!! *breathing hard, eye twitches, passes out* Reviews would make everything seem better!! * revives for encouragement of reviews, goes back to playing dead*


	15. Of No Twinkies, Drugs and Kisses

Stuff: Good God, it's been years and I am soooo sorry. I don't even have an excuse. Feel free to roast me alive on the flames I will be sure to receive on this chapter. Which is kinda serious. Like, it's not as funny as most of my chapters are.

Chapter 15

One never knows just how uncomfortable it is to have an insane friend attack you, shove you into a costume that was forced upon you by 2 queers, and then proceed to paint your face with war paint until one experiences it for oneself.

Whoop, dawg.

I'll tick that off my bucket list.

Whatever.

I stood in the corner of the party room, holding the cup of something that was probably stronger that punch while watching a group of wanksters start smoking something that was definitely not cigarettes.

I wonder why they refer to each other as 'home boy' and 'brotha'.

And why the white kid has dreads.

Hmmm. Interesting.

I sipped the electric blue liquid tentatively and grimaced when it burned my throat. So far, the party was a fail. I was wearing a grey, gothic dress with bell like sleeves and a skirt that was a tad too long, and Ari, the social butterfly was currently in the middle of the fray, doing something with someone who wasn't me. And I couldn't find Vlad or Edward, which sucks, because I was hoping to give Edward one of those 'be healthy, be clean' speeches and give him one of the pamphlets I stole from Jared on how to go cold turkey. And I wanted to see Vlad simply because, you know, it's Vlad, and no one needs an excuse to want to see Vlad. But I couldn't find him…How sad.

And they didn't even offer Twinkies as refreshments.

Fail.

I put my drink down and drifted into the crowd, the lights becoming much brighter suddenly and the music getting much better. I really wanted to dance. Like, majorly. And my fingers were tingling.

Must be the punch.

Ari was suddenly behind me with his hands on my hips.

"Heeeey…" He nuzzled my neck, smelling strangely similar to the bottle of Jack Daniels I'd seen being passed around earlier. I giggled. I think we must have started attempting to dance, because we-as a couple-fell over someone who was lying on the floor. Ari looked surprised.

"Dude, why are we on the flooooooor?" I gaped.

"I don't know….I'm thirsty." I got up with Ari following behind me. I knew there was a reason to not pick up your unguarded drink at a party like this one, and a good one at that, but I was having a hard time focusing on keeping Ari's hand out of the front of my dress, and the room was spinning, and the lights were great and the music was really distracting, so I couldn't put my finger on the exact reason at that exact moment, so when I found my old cup of blue punch, down the hatch it went. Which is when I started to feel way to dizzy.

When did the room start spinning so much?

Why is it so hot in here?

Wow, everything is so bright and colourful. I wonder why.

Ari grabbed me and pushed me against a wall before kissing me in a very intrusive manner.

Ew. I don't want this. Hmm. My arms seem very heavy. Too heavy. Ari pulls back slightly.

"Mrrr…Arrrrr…don't want." He kissed me again, and with a display of strength the crazy vampire man would have to applaud, I push him back.

"What the fuck, Aiza? Don't be a prude." He kissed me once again, and I bit his tongue. He pulled back. "Bitch!" I turned my head and tried to sack him, but my limbs were waaaaaaaaaaay heavy. Way heavy.

And then Ari was pulled away and slammed-one handed, I feel I must add-against a wall by what appeared to be Vlad about to explode into fumes of anger. Wait, when did he get here?

How strange. He wasn't wearing a costume. This is a Halloween party, correct? Shouldn't one be wearing a costume if one attends a Halloween party?

Ow. There are too many thoughts in my head. Now it hurts.

A cool hand encircles my wrist tightly and yanks me away. Hard.

"Owwwwww….Lay off the steroids, you freak!" I attempted to biff Vlad on the head, but it didn't work too well, and I ended up almost falling down. Vlad picked me up stiffly, and continued to yank me hard through hallways that were morphing and twisting and doing other sorts of interesting things.

Cold rage was roiling off him in waves. Cold that was so cold it was burning.

Oh, my God. Why are my thoughts so freakishly deep? Are they normally like this?

We somehow made it outside, though how, I'll never know, because things shaped like hands were growing out of the floor as we were walking, but nevertheless, we were out side.

I stopped, expecting him to do the same, but he just yanked on my arm again.

"This is misogynistic! I am an independent woman! I need no help from the penis people!" Vlad slammed my back against the brick wall of a townhouse near the hotspot of Bathory.

"Yeah, you were just about to be raped; you don't need my fucking help at all!" He spat, his face inches from mine. "God, Aiza, if you could see his mind-" He stiffened. "You didn't hear that."

"Fine. Great. Will you stop spinning?"

He looked at me helplessly. I sighed. I didn't much care for his comment, everything was to light and spinny and fluffy for anything to matter much.

"If you can't, than can you take me home? I miss Mr. Snuggles. And I really want a Twinky." Well, Twinkies always matter, and Mr. Snuggles was Mr. Snuggles.

Vlad stopped pacing and stared at me. "You still trust me?" Wait, should I not? "God, I can't _do_ this anymore, Aiza! You trust and accept and you don't how bad that can be. Aiza, I-Don't you get it, Aiza? People can kill. _I_ can kill. I wanted to kill Ari. And I wanted to kill Snow just to drain her, Aiza, and I could do that to anyone and-I want to kill people every day for what's inside them!" He gets so close I can smell him again. And see that he has fangs.

Wow, Vladdie has fangs.

Haha, fangs.

I should tell him 'fangs for the advice!'.

Fangs.

He has fangs.

"Oh, God, Aiza." His head was bent, his hands pinning my wrists above my head with my back pressed against the brick wall and our bodies pressed together. His fangs scraped along the skin on my neck. Oh, god, he's a vampire. How could I not tell? I was practically hysterical, my thoughts incoherent. "I don't know if I want to kiss you or if I want to rip your throat out…" A giggle burst from my mouth before I could stop it. He sounded so _serious_. I should be terrified. He could be one of Joseph's cronies…But I'm not scared at all. I'm hysterical. I'm drugged.

"You're crazy." He spoke again, sounding amazed. And then he pressed his lips to mine.

Vlad's POV

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, you're being an idiot. Get away from her and have Otis work something out to make sure she won't remember anything. _The small, weak voice of my Conscious was saying in my head as Aiza's lips moved against mine. This was so wrong, so bad. It had to stop. It did.

Then why wasn't I doing anything to stop this train wreck?

Turns out I didn't need to, because Edward-fucking Edward, turning up from nowhere-ripped me away.

"You bastard! She's _drugged_!" Edward pushed me away from her. He was freakishly strong, and his eyes were lit up with anger. "You're being no better than Ari!" I pushed him away, even though he was right.

God, no wonder she was acting so strange. Why the hell didn't I notice it before?

I was breathing hard, staring at Edward then staring at Aiza, who hadn't moved from leaning against the wall. I glanced back at Edward and was surprised by the pain that I saw in his eyes. So I wasn't the only one who cared about Aiza.

Hell, jealousy burns when it comes on with no warning.

"We need to take her home." Edward's voice was quiet, and there was a silent _We won't talk about what you did anymore_ attached to the end.

And, God, I was thankful for that.

* * *

Aiza's POV

I opened my eyes and moaned pathetically.

"The light, it burns…" I attempted to wave my hand around, but a blond creature with streaky eyes and rumpled clothing was clutching onto me.

Oh, Lily.

"Oh, God, Aiza." She sounded choked up. "I'm so sorry. Edward and Vlad brought you home after Ari-well, after he revealed that he isn't as much as a gentleman as we thought. God, I'm such a bitch! I didn't even notice you were gone for such a long time. And when I did I couldn't find you. And you were drugged because I wasn't there or something. I could have made sure this didn't happen." Lily started to cry again, and I noticed that she was still in her costume with streaky, half-gone makeup and knotted hair. Jared was sitting next to her, and he patted her shoulder.

"Baby, how much do you remember?" My mouth was fuzzy, and it tasted bad, my eyes were burning, I was nauseous and my head felt like it was about to explode. Needless to say, I was having a hard time concentrating. I scrunched my eyes and used my TMNT powers to attempt, though.

"Entering the party house, getting a drink and…that's it." Lily choked and buried her face in her hands. I patted her shoulder. "It's okay. At least you got one step closer to Henry, right?" She nodded and gave a watery smile before hiccupping slightly.

"Err…Can I go to sleep now?" Lily gasped.

"Yeah, of course! Definitely! I'll just be waiting outside if you need me, 'kay?" I mrrped and set my head down on my pillow.

I had the distinct feeling I should be remembering something very importanto, but my mind was a blank slate. Nothing was there. Zip. Nada.

How frustrating.

_His lips kinda tasted like the way a spice shop smells, and they were surprisingly soft against mine. Hmm. I wouldn't mind it this was to continue._

Oh, good God.

Who the hell was kissing _me_ last night?

End Notes: Once again, sorry for it being so long. Good God, sorry. The next chapter will be longer, I promise! And it'll come sooner. But here will be a huge timeskip. Like, Christmas shopping. I feel so guilty asking for reviews now…


	16. Key of Things

Stuff: I'm back, baby! Right, real life made itself apparent, as has writer's block, so I'm so sorry for the delay….but now things have gotten back on track and I'll start updating regularly again. I now actually have an ending in mind, too….about time. AND DISREGARD THE 4th BOOK WHILE READING THIS, GOOD GOD PLEASE!

Chapter 16

D'Ablo's POV (God, did I ever tell any of you that I find this character truly fascinating? He's so 2-D in the books [seriously, really 2-D], but there has to be a backstory. :3)

"President D'Ablo." I looked down from where I sat, shaking my head to dispel the memories attempting to engulf me. Ever since Jasik's death- ever since I saw how truly powerful the Tod boy had become- this room made me uneasy. It was not very logical that a place stained by the past I'd rather forget would become my safe haven.

_But then, if you took that to heart you'd have nowhere to go, would you?_

I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the secretary in front of me. She had grown uneasy in my silence, squirming fearfully. I smirked. I found it…amusing that I could inflict fear just through my silence - that these people found me so strong, so terrifying.

They have yet to see true strength.

"Yes?" She startled slightly, and I sighed. Why were any vampires made after the 19th century so inherently useless? "Any news?" I attempted to keep my patience, although it was…difficult, to say the least. She nodded.

"I-sir, the London President is missing."

I laughed bitterly, the sound lingering in the air. This plot twist must be amusing whichever wicked god orchestrated the black comedy of never-ending life. Just when Elysia began to forgive and forget my past sins, just when I was gathering power, setting goals for myself, he came back.

Not so much came back as gave an indication that he was still there, was always there, waiting in the shadows. Every Elysian president's bête noir. Fledging vampire's boogeyman. My once-was _partum_.

And apparently the London President's death.

"Incorrect, Ingrid." I ran a hand over my face, a weary exhaustion taking over me, the kind that sleep will not remedy. "The London President is dead."

I watched as that sank in, as her mouth opened and nervousness gave way to incredulousness.

"But-but how could that happen?" I could see that the idea of someone 400 years old- someone she previously thought unbeatable and all powerful- being wiped out staggering to her.

"It's simple, my dear." I stiffened, every muscle in my body tightening as adrenaline pulsed through my veins. It had been centuries since I heard that voice, months since I thought that the owner of it was dead, and the sound of it shocked me. Terrified me. "What you must do is take a wooden stake, and stab it through a vampire's heart. Here, I'll show you."

Josef- or, as I heard his name is now, Joseph- stepped from the shadows, and my breath gushed from my lungs. I couldn't move, couldn't breath, as Josef smiled kindly and gripped Ingrid's shoulder, taking a stake with his other hand.

Her hysterical screams were cut short as the stake embedded itself in her chest, slicing through her heart into the other side. My eyes followed her body as it fell to the floor with a sodden thump. It a dark blur, Josef was facing me in my perch on the raised platform (A/N: it's been years since I read the book, there was a raised platform, right?), mere inches of space separating us. My fangs grew, my eyes narrowing even further as I automatically reached for a knife hidden on my person.

Josef snatched my wrist in a lightening-quick move, his fingers tightening. He leaned in, forcing my elbow to bend. His cool breath washed over me for a moment as he tightened his fingers just enough to cause slight pain. It was a warning, one that I took heed of. I curled my fingers inwards, retracting my fangs. Josef leaned back, tilting his head to the side as he regarded me inquisitively.

"I'm not here to hurt, merely to talk." Anger flashed through me, dark and wild. I yanked my wrist from his grip and turned away, walking away. I hated that after only seconds of his company after centuries of separation, he could reduce me to little more than an ill-tempered child. I walked towards the spot where Jasik died, keeping my back to Josef as I spoke.

"I have no need to exchange words with you." My tone was stiff, monotone, as I looked at Ingrid's body. Not here to hurt, at all. The full scope of what was going on hit me. Josef was back, Josef was here, and Josef was even stronger and more ruthless then before. His presence was palpable, a supernova of telepathic power that I registered in the back of my mind. If we were to fight, I would lose.

I laughed bitterly.

Josef spoke softly.

"Davin…"

My muscled locked in shock, my eyes widening slightly. It had been so long since I'd heard that name. It had been so long since I'd destroyed that person.

"…I don't go by that name anymore." I heard Josef take soft steps towards me. I could feel the hum of his body behind mine.

"I know." His voice was quiet. "D'Ablo. Devil. Is that what you want to be, Davin? Is that who you want to be?" It was as if we were centuries back again, Josef chiding me quietly over humans I'd killed out of lack of control.

"If it is?" I spat those words through gritted teeth.

"You want the Pravus's power? You want to be a tyrant ruler for this fragile world?" Josef's voice now held calm incredulousness. "You haven't changed that much, Davin." He put his hands on my shoulder, and I spun around and slapped them away, the harsh sound echoing through the room.

"How would you know? How would you know how I've changed? You _left_, without saying _anything_; you have no right to act as if you still know me. I've changed, Josef, and you weren't there to see it." I barely noticed that I'd slipped back into my native tongue. It had been so long since I'd spoken it, the notes and syllables tasted foreign on my tongue. Josef watched my angry, childish outburst in silence. I turned my back to him again. I noted in the back of my head that that might be an unintelligent idea, but I couldn't stand to see his face. "I could kill you with no regrets now."

There was silence, before I heard a sigh. "Davin, I never meant to hurt you. I merely—"

"You merely didn't trust me to help you, and you left." I turned back to face him. His eyes were lowered to the ground, not even bothering to contradict my statement. I let out a bitter laugh.

"You said, before I gave you my mortality, my trust, my love, that you would be my father, my brother, my son, and that I'd be yours. But what father abandons their child? What brother mistrusts their sibling? What son shuts out his father?" I turn back to Josef. His face was smooth, a porcelain mask. I could see nothing through it. I sighed. I knew that nothing would show; that nothing would change. Reminiscing other this man would do me no good.

"What do you want, Josef? What are you trying to do?"

Josef moved forwards, his face softening slightly. He attempted to place a hand on my shoulder, and I moved backwards, away from his touch. A flicker of something I couldn't read moved across his face, and he pulled his hand back.

"You know what I'm trying to do, Davin."

"D'Ablo." I snarled. Turning again and walking away from him in quick steps. "And you know, Josef, that I'll stop you. Elysia need not fall."

"Elysia has been poisoned with time. It is impure, unholy."

I narrowed my eyes. "What have you come here, then, if not to hurt?" _Get what you need and leave, I can't have you this close for so long._ I only hoped that my thought remained private. Josef need not know how close I was to breaking. And, I suppose, if I played along, my life and the lives of others in this building would be spared. I wouldn't put it past Josef to use my duty to protect the Council against me.

"I need to find Kiuerk." I stiffened.

"It's been centuries-millenia, almost-since anyone has heard from him. Even if I did know where he was, I would certainly not tell you." I kept my back to him.

"Ah, but he might be useful to the both of us. The oldest living vampire, Davin, the one first saw the Pravus Prophecy. He is the only one who truly knows all of the information of the Pravus. He could very well be the key." Josef's voice was soft.

"The key to what?" I felt my temper rising.

"Everything, Davin."

And then Josef was gone, disappearing somehow. It's a talent of his, disappearing.

I snarled.

"It's D'Ablo."

End notes: Yeah, updates will be regular again. Pinky promise. No more hiatus periods for me.


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